


Drabble Collection

by Phelpsgirlxxx



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: 2021, Affection, Angry Nico, Aphrodite Cabin - Freeform, Battle of the Labyrinth, Bianca di Angelo - Freeform, Bow and Arrows, Camp Bead, Camp Half-Blood (Percy Jackson), Campfire, Caring Will, Choking, Christmas, Christmas Time, Clovis - Freeform, Drabbles, EIGHT MONTHS, Education, F/M, Fever, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Freezing, Gen, Grief, Hades Figurine, Hair cut, Haircuts, Heavy Angst, Hermes Cabin - Freeform, Home, Hurt Nico, Hurt Nico di Angelo, Hypnos - Freeform, IM DRUNK, Love, M/M, MMR, Make over, Makeup, Making Out, Mama - Freeform, Marriage Proposal, Measles, Mentions of homelessness, Missing, Nail Polish, New Years, Nico missing, Nightmares, No Smut, Polar Express - freeform, Protective Will, Roof, Search, Sick Nico, Sickness, Sleep, Snuggling, Summer, Sword of Hades, Tattoo, Tattoos, Tickles, Ticklish Nico, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Vaccines, Winter, blue lips, caught kissing, drunk, friendships, happiness, more tags when I am sober, naps, no recognition, proposal, random oneshots, recognize, sick, slight pda, surprise, theres a mouse in my room, ticklish, titans curse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-09
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:00:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 34,717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27971978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phelpsgirlxxx/pseuds/Phelpsgirlxxx
Summary: Random Drabbles:1) Will demands Chiron make Nico do homeschooling.2) Will finds out that Percy choked Nico. (During the Last Olympian).3) Nico receives his first camp bead.4) Sick Nico.5) New Years (written by drunk me, so may be deleted in the morning)6) Nail Varnish7) Two Different Christmases8) Recognition9) Missing10) Nightmares11) Anniversary of Bianca's Death12) Will and Nico are dating?13) Winter in the Hades Cabin14) Ticklish15) TattoosNEW CHAPTER DESCRIPTIONS IN THE CHAPTER TITLES-- this is getting too long to add every single one. :-)
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Nico di Angelo & Will Solace, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Comments: 88
Kudos: 486





	1. Homeschooling

**Author's Note:**

> First chapter isn't that good. I'm writing this while super sleep deprived.

“Chiron!”

The centaur quickly looked up from where he was sitting playing Pinochle with Mr D as the son of Apollo stormed across the lawn towards the Big House, a frustrated, slightly angrily looking Nico di Angelo trailing behind him.

“Ah Mr Solace, Mr di Angelo, what can I do for you?”

“Nico needs to be enrolled in online school.” Will demanded, making the centaur start and Nico scowl harder.

“Oh?”

“He hasn’t been to school since he was ten and he had his memories wiped before that, so who knows how much he actually remembers!”

“Hey I remember some stuff! I can read and write and stuff. I’m also pretty good at geography and stuff, although I have no recollection of actually reading about them.”

Will frowned deeply.

“Okay sure, but do you know what happened at the end of world war two? Do you know about Yugoslavia? What about the cold war?” Will challenged.

“I lived through some of world war two I’ll have you know. I don’t know what the cold war is, and what do you mean about Yugoslavia, what happened to Yugoslavia?”

Will gestured at Nico and then to Chiron who was watching the boys with a slight smile on his face, while Mr D was grumbling to himself, angry that his game of Pinochle had been interrupted.

“See Chiron! He needs to be enrolled in school!”

“Well, I can definitely see where you are coming from, although it might take a while as there are some… difficulties.” Chiron said diplomatically.

“Difficulties?”

“I mean technically Mr di Angelo doesn’t exist.” Chiron informed the scowling son of Apollo.

“Nice.” Nico whispered with a grin.

“Not nice Nico! How do we… I don’t know… make him exist?”

Chiron frowned and shared a look with Mr D across the small table.

Will felt a slight dart in his chest. He loved Nico, and wanted to be with him forever, and at some point he wanted to marry him, not that Nico knew that as they were only a year into their relationship. He wouldn’t be able to do that if legally Nico didn’t exist.

He was also surprised education hadn’t come up before between them.

When the infirmary wasn’t busy, Will would do work which would be sent into a school in New York which allowed him to live at camp, work to his own schedule, but still get a high school diploma. 

He had imagined that Nico was doing the same as all the other children in the camp that were year rounders did, so when Will asked if Nico wanted to do his homework with Will, he hadn’t been expecting Nico to say he hadn’t been to school in years.

“Well… I suppose we might be able to manipulate some mist and be able to create some legal documents for his existence.” Chiron said slowly.

“Might want to include a green card in that, just to be sure.” Nico added.

“Yes, yes quite right.”

“What will you do for parents? I mean if Nico exists surely he’ll need one put down?” Will added.

Nico paled significantly, and Will quickly reached back to grab his boyfriend’s hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

“Ah technically, any half blood living at the camp who has no living mortal parent has me down as a Foster-Dad.” Chiron said.

“Yeah, and I’m technically his partner in the eyes of the law.” Mr D added with a snort.

Will’s mouth fell open, and he stared at the two camp leaders, not believing what he was hearing. The idea of Mr D and Chiron dating in any capacity was kind of terrifying, and he knew if he opened his mouth he was going to laugh, or snort, and he didn’t really want to do either.

“What?” Nico muttered after a few moments of silence.

“Yes, well, they weren’t as likely to let a ton of kids technically be in the legal hands of a single guardian, and well Mr D is the other counsellor so…”

Will couldn’t help it and snorted violently, which made Nico shoot him a grin.

“Anyway, I’m going to tutor Nico until you can get him into school.” Will said, pulling his boyfriend after him towards the Hades Cabin.

“You better probably get on sorting school for Mr di Angelo soon, we wouldn’t want Mr Solace getting too distracted from the infirmary.” Mr D muttered.

“Yeah, yeah I will.”

“Good, now let me beat you at Pinochle.”


	2. You Choked Him!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next random drabble idea
> 
> Wrote extremely quickly on a phone, sorry if there are typos.
> 
> DISCLAIMER as I get a lot of comments on this one. Will's arguments are not necessarily my point of view. I do think it was f***ed up that Nico got strangled, HOWEVER it does make sense in context. Percy had just woke up from a dream and he was trapped in a dungeon so it does make sense. Will's arguments are more heat of the moment arguments, you know? I think in the heat of the moment he'd say stuff he didn't mean to try and defend Nico. However, I do believe Percy probably should have apologised later, and I can't remember if he did.

"YOU CHOKED HIM?!"

Percy looked up in shock as the door to the Poseidon cabin flung open and crashed into the wall revealing an extremely angry son of Apollo in the doorway.

"What?" Percy asked from his spot on the floor where he had been attempting to read some of the notes Annabeth had given him.

"You choked him!" Will repeated, his face red with pure, undiluted anger.

"Who?"

"Who?! Who?! Nico! You choked Nico!"

It took him a moment to remember what Will was talking about and he paled significantly as he remembered slamming the son of Hades into the wall by the throat when he had come to rescue him from Hades dungeons. Guilt shot through him as he also remembered how much he wanted to continue choking Nico even when he realised who it was.

"Shit. How did you find out?"

"Nico and I were talking in his cabin and when I stood up my hand accidentally brushed his neck. He had a panic attack Percy! He was terrified. It took a while to calm him and when I asked what happened he eventually told me. I came here when he fell asleep."

"I mean... to be fair he did sell me out to Hades. That's why I did it."

"That doesn't justify it! Also was it on purpose? Did he want to sell you out?" Will challenged, and it was extremely clear he knew it hadn't been.

"No... Hades said he'd tell him about his Mum. He made the God promise not to hurt me but..."

"So Hades lied to both of you and he tried to save you and you strangled him?!"

"I do feel bad." The now was left unspoken.

"You were sixteen or at least close to at the time. Nico was twelve!"

"Yeah." Percy muttered, his tone dropping.

He knew Will was right, of course he was, and he should really have apologised to Nico a year ago, but he hadn't and he did feel guilty, especially now it was at the forefront of his mind.

"I can't believe it! Nico was manipulated Percy, he was twelve years old with no memories in a century he didn't know. Of course he was desperate for information!"

Percy quickly stood up from where he was sitting and moved slightly closer to Will, who, despite being slightly shorter, didn't flinch or move back.

"You think I don't know that! 

"Well, considering the fact you choked him and haven't apologised in the past year or so... no!"

"I'm sorry okay! Of course I am, but..."

"You're sorry?! I don't think I'm the one you should be apologising!" Will yelled back.

Percy had no idea when the two of them had started practically screaming at each other, but his anger was flaring and he didn't want to be the one to back down.

"Stay out of this Solace! What does this even have to do with you?! Huh?!"

"Nico's my boyfriend, of course I want to protect him. You traumatised him! All of you seven never cared about him, we all know that, but you physically assaulted him when he was trying to help you! Of course I'm angry! Of course I'm going to tell you you're wrong! Even if I wasn't in love with Nico I'd still be angry. You can't choke people when they accidentally hurt you and try to remedy it! You also can't not apologise for it either! If it weren't for Nico you wouldn't have survived half the battles you were in!"

Percy glared at the healer, but he knew technically the son of Apollo was right.

"I don't go around choking people!"

"Oh so just Nico then? Is that meant to make me feel better?"

"WHAT ON EARTH IS GOING ON HERE?!"

The two boys turned to see a large group outside the door with a furious Annabeth who had clearly just spoken and a concerned looking Chiron.

"William?" The centaur asked confused.

Will was usually known for being mild tempered, at least when he wasn't dealing with resistant patients. To have the younger healer screaming at the hero of Olympus was surprising.

Neither of the two boys said anything and Chiron sighed.

"Everyone away and back to your normal activities apart from Mr Jackson, Mr Solace and... yes... Miss Chase too." Chiron commanded.

No one wanted to argue with the centaur, so they quickly fled.

"What's going on?" Chiron asked.

"He strangled Nico!" Will accused.

"Percy?!" Annabeth said, her mouth falling open slightly in horror.

"It was like a year ago!"

"When he was twelve? You strangled a twelve year old?!"

"Perseus." Chiron said softly, disappointment evident in his tone.

"I'm sorry." He muttered, his anger leaving.

Will still looked angry however.

"You better apologise to Nico, and if you so much look at him funny you'll regret it." Will promised, eyes glinting before he stormed out of the cabin.

"He's right." Chiron said, before he too left.

"When exactly?" Annabeth asked quietly after a few minutes of awkward silence.

"Before I took the curse of Achilles."

"And he still brought Hades, Persephone and Demeter and saved us all." She whispered, shaking her head before leaving the cabin, leaving the son of Poseidon alone and wracked with guilt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Review and leave kudos if you liked it.
> 
> Also I take prompts on here and at frogsfordays.tumblr.com


	3. Camp Beads

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written quickly the other night when I was sleep deprived.
> 
> Thanks for the prompt aquaeclipse on tumblr, sorry it took me a while to work out you were saying through my sleep deprivation :D. Also hope this is okay for you :)
> 
> If you want to send me a prompt, you can comment or message me on frogsfordays.tumblr.com

Nico had never felt truly at home at Camp Half-Blood before, especially since the death of Bianca, however, since the end of the war with Gaea, he slowly became accustomed to life at Camp Half-Blood and a lot of it was to do with Will Solace, not that he would ever admit it to anyone, apart from Will who made him feel safe, and Nico couldn’t lie to him.

“Nico?”

He quickly turned on his heel, and he smiled brightly as his brown eyes met Will’s bright blue ones.

“Hi.” Nico breathed.

“Hi. I was just going to ask, you’re staying after the summer aren’t you? You’re going to be a year rounder?”

“Yeah. I have to redecorate my cabin and stuff, you know? It’s atrocious. I have no idea who designed it. I’m not a vampire.”

“You sure? You are very pale Death Boy.”

Nico playfully shoved his friend who laughed, making heat bloom on Nico’s face.

“I’m staying too. I stay year round.” Will added.

“You do?”

“Yeah. My Mom’s on tour a lot, and she gets busy. I like staying here too. I see her when she’s in New York.”

Nico wasn’t sure how to express how glad he was about Will saying he was staying at camp. He had made friends, he especially liked Lou Ellen and Cecil, as well as Will of course, and he was making friends with Kayla and Austin too, but he wasn’t sure he’d be confident enough to talk to them alone, but he definitely didn’t want to be alone again.

“I’m glad.” Nico finally said.

“You are?” Will asked, delighted at Nico’s words.

“Yeah, we’re friends you idiot.”

“Exactly! You can’t get rid of me that easily either. I spoke to Chiron and he said you can do lessons with the Apollo cabin too.”

Nico didn’t say anything, but a small smile graced his lips at how glad he was. He hadn’t wanted to do lessons by himself, and he wasn’t sure how easy it would be to talk to someone alone to start with.

“Is that okay Nico? I didn’t come off too strong did I? I hope I didn’t make you uncomfortable?” Will asked, twiddling with the camp necklace resting against the top of his chest.

“No, no it’s fine, great even, sorry I just…”

Will reached a hand out towards Nico, eyes locked on his, and once he saw permission, he carefully took Nico’s hand in his own.

“I care about you Nico, you know? So does Kayla, Lou Ellen, Austin, Cecil, Jason and so many more of us. We care about you, and we want you here.”

Nico blushed.

“Thanks Will, and you know… for what it's worth, I care about you too.” Nico said slowly, fiddling with the top of his sword at his waist.

Will grinned.

“Good. Are you coming to the campfire tonight? It’s the last one before people leave.”

“Yeah, yeah I’m coming.”

“Do you want to sit with me? The others will be there too, Cecil and everyone.”

“Sounds good.”

“Great, well I have to go, I was meant to be grabbing some bandages from Chiron, and I don’t want to make Austin come looking for me. I’ll meet you after tea, we can hang out for a bit before we head to the bonfire?”

“Sounds great.”

Will squeezed Nico’s hand, that Nico hadn’t even realised he was still holding, winked and then ran off towards the Big House, and Nico took a deep breath, hoping that his cheeks weren’t flaming red, but he was sure that they were.

PJOHOOTOA.

That night, Nico sat beside Will at the fire, Lou Ellen by his side, telling him a story about how she had used the Mist to prank Connor and Travis Stoll who had pranked her first by stealing one of her pig balls and throwing it at her. 

Nico laughed as continued her story, and she smiled widely as he laughed, glad he was enjoying the story.

Across the campfire, Nico didn’t see Percy, Annabeth and Jason smiling at the son of Hades as they watched him laugh. It hadn’t been that long since the war, but Nico seemed much happier, and they knew it was the influence of Will and Nico’s new friends.

As the campfire began, the Apollo cabin led the songs with Austin playing the saxophone, and Will staying silent as he had a well known atrocious singing voice. Nico didn’t sing, not wanting to, but he smiled as the others did, and laughed as Cecil whispered joke, slightly dirty versions of the songs in his ear.

Finally, with some fireworks from the Stoll brothers, the campfire started to come to an end, and Chiron began to ask people to come forward for the beads for the end of summer. Nico remained where he was, stretching comfortably as his friends went to grab their beads, before they walked back to the camp.

“Nico?” Will asked, as he returned to their spot in the stands.

“Hmm?”

“I have something for you.”

Nico didn’t notice people watching their interaction, his eyes focused instead on the smiling son of Apollo in front of him.

“What?”

Will reached out, and carefully pressed a necklace with a bead on it in Nico’s hands.

“Look at the bead.”

Nico looked down at it, and gasped slightly as he realised the bead held a painting of the Athena Parthenos in all its glory, standing vividly out against the black of the rest of the bead.

“I don’t deserve this, I wasn’t here the entire summer.”

Will moved to close Nico’s hand so he was clasping the bracelet and looked deep into his eyes.

“You saved this camp Nico. You, Reyna and Coach Hedge struggled thousands of miles to get the Athena Parthenos here. If anyone deserves this bracelet, it’s you.” Will murmured.

“I didn’t, I…”

“You did.”

Nico blinked furiously trying to hide tears that seemed to be coming to his eyes without his permission.

Will carefully looked at him, and opened his arms to the son of Hades, who immediately fell into them, clasping the son of Apollo into a hug.

Cheers broke out around the campfire, but Nico barely heard them.

Camp Half-Blood was his home, he was sure of that now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review and leave kudos, it really makes my day.


	4. Sick Nico

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wrote this really quickly while sleep deprived, so likely some mistakes.
> 
> Sorry I haven't written much, I'm at my friends for the holidays (we are one household, so following covid rules) and have been trying to write essays, very unsuccessfully. However, one of the members of the household has to quarantine now, so we're quaranting too to be on the safe side, although technically we don't have to.
> 
> Anyway.
> 
> Hope anyone who celebrates holidays had a good one.
> 
> Also if I don't write again before New Year then... HAPPY NEW YEAR 2021... I'm sad I won't have my partner with me for the holidays, but glad I have my friends. Hope everyone stays safe and has the best new year they can given the circumstances.

Will sighed as he looked over at the Hade’s table.

Nico had gotten better at attending breakfast when Will had installed in him how important it was to eat, at least, two meals a day, especially as the son of Hades had been extremely underweight when he had returned to Camp Half-Blood.

“Will, eat and then go and find him? The infirmary is dead quiet anyway.” Kayla sighed exasperated as she speared a strip of bacon onto her fork.

“Fine.”

“Eat first.” Austin reminded him, as Will stood and attempted to leave.

Will sighed, quickly stuffing the rest of his toast into his mouth, and quickly hurrying out of the mess hall. He smiled and waved at an exhausted looking Lou Ellen as she walked past with an excitable Cecil, but luckily didn’t really meet anyone on the way.

As he reached Cabin 13, he quickly knocked on the door, but was met with silence.

He knocked again, but still nothing.

“Nico?”

He heard a slight groan, but still no movement from inside.

“Nico, I’m going to open the door, okay? If you’re not decent, you need to tell me now!” Will called to him.

As no sound came from the cabin once more, Will carefully opened the door, and stepped over some books stacked not far from it as he entered the dark cabin.

It wasn’t Will’s first time in his boyfriend’s cabin, so he quickly made his way to the bed he knew Nico liked to sleep in the most, and sighed sadly when he saw his boyfriend.

“Nico? You okay?”

Nico blinked up at him blearily through red, streaming eyes as he tried to work out who it was.

“Will?” He finally croaked after a few moments.

“Yeah baby, you okay?”

“I don’t feel very good.” The son of Hades reluctantly admitted.

Will immediately frowned. He knew that Nico would never admit to actually feeling ill, unless he was extremely bad.

“Can you sit up at all, Sunshine? I need to check some of your symptoms, and I’ll try and help, okay?”

Nico took a few moments to cough harshly into the crook of his elbow, before he slowly but surely maneuvered himself into sitting position. As he sat, Will reached up to brush the hair back from Nico’s forehead, and he could immediately feel heat rolling off him, which was extremely worrying for the normally physically cold son of Hades.

“Jeez sunshine, you’re really burning up.”

Nico didn’t say anything, instead taking time to cough into his arm once more.

“Give me a second, okay Neeks?”

Nico groaned.

Will quickly rushed to the door, and stuck his head out, casting his eyes around before he caught sight of Connor Stoll who seemed to be heading towards breakfast. The boy had really calmed down since his brother went off to college, so Will knew he wouldn’t mess around.

“Connor!”

“Yeah?”

“Can you do me a favour? Run to the infirmary and grab a first aid kit from Kayla? I’ll owe you one.”

Connor waved his hand dismissively, but quickly agreed to the task, and took off sprinting towards the infirmary immediately, leaving Will to duck back into Cabin 13 to where Nico was hunched over in bed coughing.

“Oh baby.” Will whispered reassuringly, as he rushed over, and carefully stroked down Nico’s spine as he continued to cough, his throat sounding raw and painful as he choked.

“Will, I don’t feel so good.” Nico muttered exhaustedly, as he leaned sideways to rest his head on his boyfriend’s shoulder.

“I know, I’m getting a first aid kit, and then I’ll be able to work everything out okay, and we can make you feel better.”

Nico hummed.

“You’ll feel better soon baby, don’t worry.”

“Okay.”

“Can you tell me how you feel? You have a fever and a cough at least, anything else?”

Nico stayed silent for a moment as he thought.

Will had originally thought that Nico had the flu, but something about that diagnosis wasn’t sitting right with him, so he definitely needed more information.

“Runny nose.”

“Hmm.”

“Weird spots in my mouth.”

Will frowned, but nodded to let his boyfriend know he was listening.

“Rash.”

“Rash? You have a rash? Where?”

Nico shifted slightly, moving his long hair off the back of his neck, revealing a rash that started at the top of his neck, likely moving up into his hair, and then moving down past the collar off his t-shirt and down his back.

“Jeez Neeks, how long have you had this rash?”

“Noticed it yesterday, I wasn’t feeling too good then either, but today’s worse.”

“I’m sorry you’re not feeling good baby. Can you open your mouth for me, I need to check that too.”

Nico did so quickly, making Will happy, but also sad. Nico didn’t like feeling babied, and the fact he was so willing to easily go along with what Will wanted clearly showed his boyfriend just how unwell he was feeling.

As he started into his boyfriend’s mouth, he could easily see the white spots Nico had been referring to, and it didn’t take him too long to come to the conclusion of what was wrong with his boyfriend.

“Oh Nico.” He sighed.

“What?”

Will was cut off as Connor quickly came through the door, and passed the first aid kit to Will, who was quick to thank him.

“Feel better soon Nico!” Connor called over his shoulder as he made a hasty exit, clearly not wanting to catch whatever was wrong with Nico, although now Will had identified it, he knew Connor wouldn’t catch it.

“Neeks, you have the measles.” Will finally informed Nico as Connor left.

Nico’s face paled dramatically, which Will found extremely concerning considering how flushed the boy had looked from his fever only moments before.

“Am I going to die?” He asked, vulnerable, after a second.

“No? What? You’re going to be fine, you’ll likely be sick for a week or two, but you won’t die.”

“Good, I just thought…”

“You thought?”

“Growing up there was a girl I was friends with, she lived down the street and…”

“She got measles and she died.” Will finished, realization finally dawning on him. 

Nico was from the thirties, he was probably missing many, crucial vaccinations, and it had never occured to Will before that he hadn’t had them. Most people by the time they came to camp had at least the basics from when they were children, and Will provided flu shots, tetanus shots and any other shots the demigods needed, and he felt like he’d let Nico down by not realising he hadn’t had any shots.

“Yeah… she died.”

“I’m sorry Nico, I’m so sorry. You’re not going to die though, I’ll look after you, we know how to make people better now, and we’ll give you some vaccinations when you recover.”

“Vaccinations?”

“Yeah, to stop you from having stuff like mumps, rubella, measles, which is what you have now obviously, and such.”

“You can stop people from catching them?!”

“Yeah, but before we can give you the vaccines, we need to get you better, and unfortunately nectar, ambrosia, and even unicorn draught won’t help with this, you’re going to have to recover like normal. It’ll probably take about a week.”

Nico opened his mouth to protest, but immediately stopped as he broke out into another fit of coughs which Will carefully guided him through, whispering reassurances as he did.

“Fine.” Nico finally croaked.

“Good, we’ll need you to keep warm and hydrated, and you need plenty of rest, but don’t worry I’ll be here to keep you company.”

Nico somehow blushed, despite how red he already was.

“Thanks Will.”

“No problem, but you have to listen to everything I say, Doctor’s orders!” Will declared.

Nico sighed, he knew it would be a long week.

“Fine.”

“Good.”

Will carefully helped Nico drink from a bottle of water in his first aid kit, and he grabbed a flannel and some water from the sink in Nico’s bathroom to help regulate his fever, before he carefully maneuvered Nico so he was resting back easier, but would still be able to breathe probably, despite how ill he felt.

“Get some sleep now Neeks, I’ll be here when you wake up.”

Nico blinked up blearily at him as Will pulled the covers over his boyfriend and pressed a kiss to Nico’s head.

“Thanks Will.”

“Get some rest sweetheart, I’ll be here when you wake up.”

Nico mumbled something incomprehensible before his eyes slipped shut and his breathing evened out.

Will looked down at his boyfriend, noticing how peaceful and angelic he looked as the son of Apollo placed the water somewhere easily accessible on his nightstand for his boyfriend before he grabbed a book and settled down on the bed on the opposite side of the room, one usually reserved for Hazel.

He cast one more look at his peaceful boyfriend, smiling at how comfortable he looked, before casting his eyes downwards, and focussing on the book, knowing he’d be there, waiting, for when Nico woke up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please read, review and leave kudos, it really makes my day, and remember you can comment any prompts or send them to frogsfordays.tumblr.com.
> 
> Thanks!


	5. New Year

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year!
> 
> I'm drunk as fuck, so I'm hoping spell check picks up on the typos, sorry if not.
> 
> I danced on a table, and had a discussion with a white straight man about slurs... he was wrong. As a bi woman with a huge preference for women... it was an uncomfortable time, but anyway... yeah.
> 
> HAPPY 2021. I am probably going to post it before any American (East coast, five hours behind GMT, I've been) celebrates new year, so HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Will knew he needed to do it.

He had been wanting to do it for months, perhaps even years if he was being honest with himself, but there was no way he wanted to enter the new year without doing it, it wouldn't feel right.

It was something they had discussed, and he knew deep down that Nico would say yes, but he was still nervous.

Usually, the seven, plus Nico and Will, and any current plus ones, would attend a party hosted by Frank and Hazel, who after years of dating, and three years of marriage, still were just as in love as the day they first admitted their feelings.

Will knew Nico and he were the same, but still he was nervous.

He had asked Nico if he would stay home with him for new years, and without any hesitation, without a second thought, Nico had agreed.

That was one thing Will loved about Nico. One thing amongst many. If Will didn't want to do something, Nico would immediately check if Will needed him to not do it too. It was never pushy. It was never bothersome. Instead, they were so secure in their relationship, they knew.

Will knew he knew Nico like the back of his hand. 

If Nico didn't want to be alone, Will would drop anything and everything to comfort his boyfriend.

If Nico wanted some space, he would be granted it until he said otherwise, at least until a beneficial point.

Nico and Will knew each other better than they knew anyone else, and there was no doubt about that.

As soon as Will said he wanted new years eve just to be the two of them, Nico had agreed and there hadn't been one single second of hesitation, and Will was extremely pleased about that as he had timed his plan to the tee.

The entire night had been great. There was an authentic Italian restaurant that did food delivery that Nico was obsessed with, and they had ordered take out. They had watched a movie they both enjoyed, although Nico would never admit it, Tangled, and then watched Nico's favourite, Lilo and Stitch, also a guilty pleasure, which had ended five minutes before midnight. They had then switched to a live countdown, and Will knew his time was coming.

He had left it with twenty seconds to spare.

Twenty seconds before midnight.

As the movie finished, and Nico quickly rushed to place the dishes in the sink, a problem for later Nico and Will, his hands were sweating, but he had never been so sure about anything in his life.

As the timer came onto the screen, thirty seconds before new year, Will grasped the ring in the box in his pocket.

Nico turned to look at the screen.

Will got down on one knee, pulling out the ring in its box and directing it right at Nico.

Twenty two seconds to go.

Nico hadn't noticed.

"Nico." Will murmed softly, making his boyfriend turn to look at him.

"Will?" Nico asked, his attention finally on his boyfriend.

"Nico, we've been together nearly a decade, and you mean everything to me. I've been debating when to do this for a while, but going into the New Year... it felt right. It didn't feel good to go into another year as boyfriends. I want to see if we can enter the new year as something more... Nico di Angelo, will you marry me?"

Will was quick to notice the tears that immediately sprang to Nico's eyes as he stared at Will, and then the ring, his eyes flickering between the two continously.

"You're sure?"

"I've never been more sure of anything."

Four seconds.

"Will Solace, I will marry you."

As Nico finished his sentence, Nico surged forward attaching their lips, and only a moment later, the clock chimed, ringing in the new year.

"Happy new year Nico."

"Happy new year Will."

"I'm glad you're entering it as my fiance." Will murmured against his now fiance's lips.

"I couldn't have asked for anything more."

Nico pulled his lips apart from Will's for just a second, looking deep into Will's eyes.

"I love you." Nico whispered, not breaking eye contact.

"I love you too." Will reiterated, before attaching their lips again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a review and kudos if you liked this.
> 
> P S I am suppppppper drunk ayyyy
> 
> Send help to future Kay (me) cos I'm going to neeeeed it. I danced on a table. Also as a heads up my drinking was in my social bubble, in the household I've been in since like December 10th... although that might technically be too late, but I'm too drunk to remember, but either way I am being entirely COVID safe, I refuse to harm anyone.
> 
> Too drunk send help/
> 
> HAPPY 2021 
> 
> love u guys.
> 
> PS please comment if I should keep this up after tonight cos I really don't know... sober Kay can decide... tongue sticking out, debby ryan ear tuck ahhhh


	6. Nail Polish

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A much more sober K this time.
> 
> HAPPY 2021. I hope everyone is having a good year so far, although it is only two days in.
> 
> Also if anything of you have heard of adagio tea, they do Percy Jackson teas, one of which is a Nico di Angelo tea, I am so tempted to buy it, but it is from the US, and I am not... it would depend on shipping.
> 
> Thanks for the comments on the last chapter, I didn't delete it, although I noticed in the authors note I said happy 2012 instead of 2021, so I did change that.

From across the dining pavilion, Nico watched in amazement as Connor Stoll gestured wildly, telling some story to the rest of the Hermes’ cabin members, but it wasn’t the story, or how wild the older boy was gesturing, but rather, the son of Hades’ eyes narrowed in on the rainbow nail polish on the nails of the son of Hermes.

He didn’t want to admit to himself, but the idea of wearing nail polish himself was… mesmerizing. He wanted to wear nail polish, but back in the thirties, anything that would have made him stand out would put him into danger, danger he couldn’t allow.

He knew it was more accepted to be gay in the modern day, although it wasn’t perfect for people to be out, it was easier, he would be much less likely to be killed in modern day, at least in the US.

Nail polish however… he wasn’t sure. No one seemed to be flinching over the fact he was wearing nail polish, and yet the doubt remained.

Would Nico be allowed to wear nail polish?

As dinner ended, Will kissed Nico’s cheek softly, not minding at all that the boy had seemed lost in his thoughts for the entire meal, and promised he would meet him at the campfire a few hours later, after he had finished up in the infirmary.

As Nico watched his boyfriend retreating, his mind focussed once more on the question at hand, and he paused. 

He knew one person, one person that wouldn’t judge him, but also would know if it was okay for him to wear nail varnish.

He needed to find Piper McLean.

PJOHOOTOA.

Nico moved close to the Aphrodite cabin, pausing just before he knocked on the door.

What if she reacted badly?

He took a deep breath, calming himself knowing she wouldn’t judge. She wouldn’t hate him, he had to be sure of that.

Mustering up all of his courage, Nico carefully knocked on the door, and it was only a few moments later that Piper opened it, her face breaking into a soft smile as she saw the son of Hades.

“Nico, you okay?” She asked softly. 

“I-” Nico began, before he broke off, twiddling the ring on his middle finger slowly.

“It’s okay Nico… take your time.”

Nico took a deep breath, before he began again.

“Nail polish.” He blurted.

“Nail polish?”

“I… are men allowed to wear nail varnish?” He asked softly, his eyes cast down on his ring again.

“Yes of course they can, anyone can wear whatever clothes or make up they are comfortable with.”

Nico looked up at her in shock.

“They can?”

“Of course. Why don’t you come in Nico, I have an idea, as long as you’re comfortable with it.” 

Nico quickly entered the cabin, and saw there were a few children of Aphrodite milling around, and they all looked up in slight confusion as they noticed the son of Hades following her.

“Nico… can I tell them?”

Nico looked up into Piper’s trusting eyes and nodded slowly.

“Nico wanted to know if boys could wear nail polish, which obviously they can. I was thinking, and of course Nico can say no and we won’t pressure him, but if you want Nico. we can paint your nails, we could also give your hair a trim and some products for you… if you want.”

Nico carefully mulled over what she had said before nodding.

“Okay.”

“Drew’s the best at doing hair, and I can do your nails.” Piper added.

“Black nails?”

Drew snorted.

“Of course, we can’t ruin the aesthetic you’ve got going on.” She snarked.

Nico didn’t say anything, but he liked the slight acceptance he was receiving from the children of Aphrodite.

“Will we be done for the bonfire?” Nico asked.

“Meeting Will?” A child of Aphrodite that Nico didn’t know the name of asked.

“Yes.” He immediately admitted.

A few of the boys at the back smiled, and one of them sighed sadly, but Nico didn’t comment on it.

“It’ll be done well before the bonfire don’t worry. Now Ellie, why don’t you grab the scissors for Drew.”

“Hey Nico, have you ever thought about eyeliner?” One of the boys from the back of the room asked.

“I- I don’t know. I’ve never thought about it.”

“Do you want to try it… afterwards? If you don’t like it it’ll easily come off.”

Nico looked at Piper, and she shrugged pleasantly.

“Fine.”

“Good. Now let’s get to work.”

PJOHOOTOA.

“Hi.”

Will looked up, and his mouth fell open as his gaze met Nico standing above him.

Nico’s long hair was shinier and sleeker than Will had ever seen it, his eyes had clear streaks of eyeliner on it, and his fingernails were a deep dark black, and he was looking softly at Will, but the longer he remained silent, the more concerned Nico looked.

“Will?”

“Nico… you look…”

“Don’t you like it? I-”

“No! No! Nico you look amazing. You look so good.”

“You like it?”

“I love it! I loved how you looked before too, but you look so good Nico!”

“I… thanks.”

Nico carefully sat down next to Will, and once the son of Apollo wrapped his arm around his boyfriend, Nico leaned in, resting his head softly on Will’s shoulder.

“I love you Nico.”

“I love you Will.”

Singing had started around them, but neither of the two paid attention, instead looking at each other.

“You do look really good, you know?” Will whispered in Nico’s ear, and Nico blushed violently.

“You always look good too.”

Will just winked, and it still made Nico blush harder.

“I know.”

Will cast his eyes around the campfire, and once he noticed no one was watching them, he leant forward and pressed a soft kiss to Nico’s lips.

“Also the nail varnish… it looks really good. I sometimes do mine, but not for the past couple of years, need to keep them clean for the infirmary.”

Nico looked at Will, and imagined his boyfriend with colourful nails, and he blushed once more, before hiding his face in the son of Apollo’s neck. 

“Love you Nico.”

“Love you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave kudos and review if you liked this.
> 
> Also my prompts are open so you can comment or message me at frogsfordays.tumblr.com
> 
> Love you guys x


	7. Two Different Christmases

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The beginning of this chapter was how he intended on this chapter going, but I got distracted and had a good ish idea, or at least good in my opinion, and I rolled with it.
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy!
> 
> Prompts on my tumblr: frogsfordays or in the comments here.

Percy had enjoyed catching up with Thalia at McHale’s, but it wasn’t too long after that she had to leave to return to the other Hunters of Artemis, and Percy had wandered back to his apartment, lost in thought, not wanting to think about how worried his Mom would be.

When he finally reached their apartment and let himself in, he was exhausted, and the bone crushing hug he received from his Mom made it better.

Percy wasn’t entirely sure how long he had been missing, and his Mom didn’t tell him, but all he knew was that his body ached, and he wanted to sleep for as many hours as he possibly could. 

Despite having already eaten, his Mom insisted he eat some more before he went to bed, and seeing the anxious look on her face, he had quickly agreed, he would do anything for his Mom. He’d move Heaven and Earth for her.

He ate, brushed his teeth, and then collapsed with an exaggerated sigh on his bed, he knew he’d regret not showering in the morning, but he was exhausted, so barely taking the time to kick off his shoes and wrap a blanket around himself before falling asleep.

PJOHOOTOA.

When Percy opened his eyes, his room was dark, and he quickly ran a hand over his face before checking the time.

2am.

He sighed, deciding not to shower as he didn’t want to risk waking his Mom and Paul, despite wanting nothing more than to wipe the grimy feeling from his skin.

Switching the lamp on beside his bed, Percy sighed, and once again collapsed against his pillows and stretching out. He knew in the morning he would have to email Annabeth, his Mom would have definitely contacted her to ask her if she’d seen him, and Wisegirl would definitely be slightly worried.

Running his mind over the events of the past day(?) couple of days (?) Percy couldn’t help think about Nico.

He knew Thalia was fine, she’d have met up with the rest of the hunters and would likely be sleeping peacefully and was safe, or at least as safe as she could be, bur Nico was not a surety. He could be anywhere, even though Percy was fairly sure he would still be in the Underworld.

Either way, Thalia would be safe and surrounded by people who loved her, just as he was, but Nico was not.

Casting his mind back, he thought of how Nico’s voice cracked when he’d seen the woman in her old fashioned black dress and pearls and how his face had seem so pained, so lonely, so heartbroken.

Mama.

He’d called her Mama.

Percy often forgot how young Nico really was, he was only eleven, younger than Percy had been when he had first gone to Camp Half-Blood, and definitely too young, in Percy’s opinion, to be wandering the depths of the underworld alone, especially so close to Christmas.

Christmas for Percy would mean a small Christmas with his Mom and Paul, and Paul’s parents visiting on Christmas Eve, but despite how small it would be, it would be a Christmas filled with love.

Nico would be alone.

The word Mama kept running through his mind.

Nico was so young, and yet primarily alone in the world. 

Mama.

A word of innocence, the words of a child, a young child, which was what Nico was.

The boy was just a child, a child alone in the world, a desperate child just craving the love of a Mother, of a sister, of family.

Percy shook his head sadly.

Even if he was able to help the boy, he was sure Nico wouldn’t take it.

With a sigh, Percy shook his head again and resigned himself to the fact that Nico would be alone for Christmas, alone and likely sad.

PJOHOOTOA.

Percy smiled as he saw the sign to Camp Half-Blood looming in the distance.

It was the last weekend before Christmas, and Annabeth was busy so the son of Poseidon had decided to visit Camp.

As soon as he reached the Big House, he was immediately greeted by Chiron.

The camp was quiet, as it always was near Christmas and the school year. There was only nineteen full time campers at the moment, and even some went to friends houses for Christmas, so at this time of the year, it was usually dead.

“Percy, come on in. The last few of us are watching a movie, the Polar Express, Kayla chose it. Go and take a seat in the main room with the others, they’re not too far in, I’ll grab you a drink.”

“Thanks Chiron.”

Chiron trotted away, and Percy made his way to the main room, taking a moment to pause by the door.

None of the six occupants had heard him near the door, so he took the time to observe the scene in front of him.

Harley, son of Hephaestus was sitting between Kayla and Austin from the Apollo cabin and they were laughing at the scene opposite them. Even Mr D was looking in the direction where sweet laughter was coming from, and to Percy’s surprise, the God was smiling slightly at the scene as he drank from a Diet Coke.

What shocked Percy the most was what everyone was looking at.

Curled up together in one of the armchairs, was Nico di Angelo and Will Solace, but that wasn’t the main surprise.

Nico was sitting in Will’s lap, and he looked comfortable and at ease, which really shocked the son of Poseidon. One of Will’s arms wrapped around Nico’s shoulders, while the other tickled the son of Hades playfully as the usually gloomy boy let out peals of laughter. Will was looking at the son of Hades as if he had gifted him the stars, and Nico’s face showed similar adoration. 

Percy was shocked.

It had been four months since he had been to camp as he’d been busy under school work, trying to catch up with the year he’d missed, but he was finally on top of it and Annabeth had reassured him he could take a break. The last time he had been at camp, Nico had been spending most of his time with the son of Apollo, but Percy hadn’t been at all aware of how close the two boys were. Percy was sure if anyone else tried to tickle the son of Hades they’d be annihilated.

None of the demigods eyes had left the scene in front of them, but Mr D was staring directly at Percy, a warning in his eyes, and Percy quickly shook his head. He would never say anything, he wouldn't want to ruin Nico’s happiness, especially as this was the happiest he’d ever seen the boy.

After a few moments, Will stopped tickling Nico, and dropped a kiss to his cheek, fairly close to his lips, making the son of Hades blush violently, and shove the son of Apollo playfully.

The laughter had stopped, but the happy atmosphere hadn’t died, everyone was still watching the boys in the chair, before Harley looked away for a moment.

“Percy!” Harley cried, his eyes finally catching on Percy.

“Hey guys!”

Austin immediately leapt up, grabbing a chair which he played by Nico and Will, and he took it quickly, leaving the room next to Harley open for Percy.

“Thanks.”

“No problem.”

Percy sat down carefully, and the atmosphere picked up again as Harley began filling him in on everything that had been happening at the camp since he had last visited. Percy listened with rapt attention, but out of the corner of his eye, he was watching Nico.

The boy was talking animatedly to Austin as Will gently played with Nico’s long-ish hair which made the smaller boy in the chair shudder and lean further back into Will’s chest. Percy knew Nico couldn’t see Will, but no one else missed the bright smile, brighter than Percy had even known was possible, even for a son of Apollo, on Will’s face.

As Nico flung his hands out as he spoke, he accidentally whacked Austin on the arm, and immediately apologised which made the child of Apollo smile and ruffle Nico’s hair playfully, and shooting him a playful wink when he pointed out the put out look on Will’s face when his ministrations had been interrupted.

Nico pressed a kiss to Will’s cheek before he returned to his conversation with Austin.

Percy wasn’t sure what he had expected when he’d come to camp, but this was definitely better than he had expected, especially for Nico.

As Chiron returned with hot chocolate for everyone in the group, just as the hot chocolate scene came on the TV, Percy smiled.

It was going to be a good Christmas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review and leave kudos if you liked it, it really makes my day, and I've had a hard one writing philosophy essays ughhhh.
> 
> Thanks!


	8. Who?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wrote this after a day of essay writing, so if it sounds weirdly formal ish, that would be why.
> 
> prompts on my tumblr or in the comments  
> i  
> also I keep thinking how there's likely no one in the same city, or even county as me reading this, and it's so weird to me. I imagine most of the readers are US citizens? Are you? Are you guys doing okay?

Connor frowned as he stared at the boy being forced nectar by Percy Jackson.

Throughout the battle he had caught glimpses of the boy, and something about the boy screamed familiarity, but Connor couldn’t work out where he had seen the boy before. 

He shared a look with Travis who seemingly understood what he was thinking, and shrugged, his own face also marred with a confused frown.

The boy spluttered and coughed, his eyes flickering open, and Connor frowned again.

Where had he seen the boy before?

“Nico, what happened? Can you talk?” Percy asked, and Connor’s mouth fell open.

Nico di Angelo.

He’d been at the camp the previous winter when Nico had arrived, and there was no way the boy in front of him was the same small child who had obsessed over mythomagic and idolised his sister only eight or so months prior.

What had happened to the boy?

Nico, the one Connor had known back in the winter was an enthusiastic child, joyful and constantly talking but seemed to crave attention. His hair had been black and fluffy and cut short, he was slim and quite short, but adorable.

Connor and his brother had tried to teach the boy poker, but he seemed to know they were trying to scam him. He was definitely an intelligent child.

This Nico didn’t seem to be the same.

Nico throughout the entire battle had looked ill, and now knowing it was Nico, and knowing how the boy had previously looked made Connor’s chest ache.

The Nico he was looking at was skinny, his bones jutting out in his arms worryingly. His face was covered in grime. His eyes were broken, and the bags underneath them proved it had been a long time since the boy had slept. His hair was darker than Connor remembered, and his skin paler. He looked horrifyingly ill.

Connor quickly looked over at Travis who seemed to be going through a similar revelation.

What had happened to Nico di Angelo in the past eight months?

After another sip of nectar, Nico stood, and engaged in conversation with Dedalus who had been hiding as their camp counselor for the entire summer, but Connor didn’t pay attention. He couldn’t get the worry out of his head.

He and Travis were not really known for their compassion unless it was extremely serious, and this to Connor was serious.

Nico was a child, a young child.

Who was looking out for Nico?

Where had Nico been for the past eight months?

During his stay in the Hermes cabin, Nico had grown on Connor, even when he’d had to take him to the infirmary after a panic attack when he woke from a nightmare. Somehow the boy had made an impression, and now Connor couldn’t help but worry.

He just hoped Nico would stay at camp, he looked like he could use a good meal.

PJOHOOTOA.

The day after the battle Travis had taken the initiative to encourage Nico to sit with them at dinner, the first meal either of the Stoll’s had seen the boy at, a worrying thought considering how skinny and malnourished the boy was.

Connor also briefly noted he was wearing the exact same outfit he’d worn during the battle.

Nico had refused the invitation, instead watching from the edge of the dining pavilion, immersed in shadows, and Connor to his utter sadness realised the boy seemed to be longingly look at the scene as if desperate to join but unwilling to intrude. 

Despite his wishes, Connor had run off with Travis straight after dinner. They’d planned some fireworks for the end of the campfire, a sure fire way to lighten the sad mood, especially after the deaths over the past couple of days.

He and Travis had split up to place the fireworks at a variety of places in the woods, and Connor had heard soft murmuring, but he’d ignored it in favour of the task at the hand.

It wasn’t until he heard Percy’s fairly loud voice interrupt the soft murmuring that Connor crept closer, hiding behind the trees and observing. 

To his surprise, it was Nico that Percy was talking to, and Connor shook his head, trying to pay attention to the conversation he’d missed a fair amount of.

“I hope we don’t have to be enemies.” Percy said to the boy, and Nico’s head bowed slightly.

“I’m sorry I was a brat. I should’ve listened to you about Bianca.”

Connor recognised the name of Nico’s sister and he frowned as he realised he’d not heard anything about her since the winter, and he’d brushed it off as her being a Hunter of Artemis, but now he wasn’t sure that had been the best assumption. Had something happened to Nico’s sister?

Connor tuned back in just as Percy offered Nico a figurine, and a fleeting smile passed over Connor’s face as Nico told Percy it had five thousand attack points as long as the opponent attacked first, but it disappeared not long after.

“Maybe it’s okay to still be a kid once in a while.”

He debated revealing himself to the two sons of the Big Three, but decided against it, Travis would kill him if he missed out any information that could be useful to them in future. 

“Thanks.” Nico murmured, staring down at the little figurine in his palm before slipping it into his pocket.

Percy and Nico shook hands and they engaged in a few more pleasantries, although they didn’t come off as particularly pleasant before Percy spoke once more.

“Keep in touch Nico.”

Connor shifted quickly, trying to free himself from the bush his shirt had got tangled in, but by the time he was free, Nico had disappeared and Mr D had appeared from behind a different tree.

Connor briefly wondered if the God had noticed him eavesdropping.

“There goes a very troubled young man.”

Percy spun on his ankle, coming face to face with Mr D in his black suit, and the two walked off together, and Connor kicked a tree in anger as soon as they were out of sight.

“Con, what on earth are you doing?”

Connor spun quickly, coming face to face with his brother.

“Nico’s gone.”

“Dammit. Did you see his powers? Can you imagine pranks with him on our side?” Travis laughed, his face slightly sad.

Connor laughed with his brother, but the small ache in his chest didn’t leave. 

As he walked off towards the bonfire with his brother, he sent out a quiet prayer to whichever God was listening.

He hoped Nico would keep himself safe, he didn’t want to imagine what would happen if Kronos’ army got him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it!
> 
> Please review and leave kudos if you liked this!
> 
> Thanks x


	9. Missing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sleep deprived.
> 
> My sleep schedule is go to sleep at like three and wake up at like midday My partner gets up for work at four am and leaves at five, but we live in a studio room, so he wakes me up constantly. Rip my sleep schedule as it gets worse.
> 
> Once again I spent the day essay writing, one more essay to write next week before my course starts again, I even have more essays next term ughhhhhh.
> 
> Regrets

As Will left the infirmary, he frowned.

He’d planned to meet Nico outside the infirmary after his shift, and when the smaller boy hadn’t been there, worry darted through his chest before he took a deep breath. There was no reason for him to be concerned, likely the boy had lost track of time.

Will whistened a cheerful tune to himself, one of his few musical talents, as he made his way to Cabin Thirteen, waving at Miranda Gardiner as he passed, before he knocked on the door to the Hades Cabin.

Silence from inside.

Will knocked again, concern rising.

Still nothing.

Carefully swinging the door open, Will frowned as his eyes cast around the empty cabin with the unmade bed with twisted sheets shoved off into a corner but immaculately clean other than that, mainly as Nico had very little to actually leave on the floor.

“Nico?!” He called into the cabin, just in case he was in the bathroom at the back, but still no sound, and Will began to panic.

He quickly slammed the door to the Hades cabin closed, and ran towards the training grounds, another popular haunt for the son of Hades.

“Nico?!” He called as he approached, worried that his boyfriend was missing, fear beginning to coarse through his veins, making his breath hitch.

“Stop shouting!” A voice called back and Will spun on his heel and found himself face to face with Sherman Yang, Ellis Wakefield not too far behind him.

“Have you seen Nico?”

The two sons of Ares looked at each for a moment before shaking their head.

“Sorry dude, we’ve been here at least a few hours, he’s not been here.”

“Shoot. Thanks.” He said, before running off towards the strawberry fields.

As he reached the fields he quickly noticed his boyfriend wasn’t there, and he gasped slightly, the panic not ebbing. 

Where on earth could he be?

What if he’d faded? What if he was hurt? Had the boy left camp?

Will tried to steady himself, taking a deep breath. Nico wouldn’t leave the camp without telling him, he was sure of that, but still he was panicking. Where could he possibly be?

“Hi Will! I thought you were going to see Nico?” Miranda said with a wave as she saw the son of Apollo.

“I can’t find him, have you seen him?”

She frowned for a moment.

“Yeah, I saw him at lunch a couple of hours ago, he looked exhausted, I assumed he would go back to his cabin and sleep.”

“Was he alone at lunch?”

“No, he was chatting with Kayla.”

“Thanks Miranda!”

“No problem, let me know if you find him or need any help.”

“Thank you!”

Will took a deep breath before sprinting towards the Apollo cabin, a few people shouting out to ask if he was okay as he ran, but he ignored them, knowing he’d regret being rude later however. 

He burst through the door, and Kayla looked up surprised from where she was tightening her bow string on her bed.

“Will? Woah, what’s going on? Are you okay? Do you and Austin need me in the infirmary?”

Will curled in on himself for a second catching his breath before he turned to his sister.

“You sat with Nico at lunch right?”

“Yeah, he was fine, looked really tired, but fine otherwise. Why?”

“I can’t find him anywhere. He normally meets me after my shift, but…”

“Okay, well, he probably can’t have gone far. Come on, we’ll check the woods, okay?”

“Sure, thanks Kayla.”

“No problem, now come on.”

Kayla didn’t bother with a coat as the two rushed out the door towards the woods.

A few people followed, including Will’s friend Cecil out of concern as he’d been brushed off by the son of Apollo. Connor Stoll also followed them, likely out of boredom since Travis had left Camp to go to college.

“What’s going on guys?” Cecil asked as he rushed to keep up.

“We can’t find Nico, you haven’t seen him have you?”

“No.”

“I haven’t either.” Connor added from Kayla’s left.

“Fuck.”

The other three shared a shocked look. The son of Apollo never swore, and it had revealed just how concerned he was, so the three picked up their speed before breaking off in pairs to search the woods, Cecil with Connor, and Kayla with Will.

After an hour of searching the woods the four head to the Big House to warn Chiron that the son of Hades was missing, and they’d checked with most of the campers and none of them had seen him.

Chiron had been concerned, but there was nothing anyone could do, they’d have to hope that the boy turned up.

PJOHOOTOA.

Dinner was a quiet affair, most of the campers concerned for Nico, and for Will by extension as they had never seen the son of Apollo looked so sad.

About fifteen minutes into dinner however, a shout startled him from his sadness.

“Will!”

Will recognised the voice as Cecil’s and his head immediately darted up and followed the son of Hermes’ point to Nico standing in the doorway, someone that Will didn’t pay attention to, behind him.

“Nico!”

Will rushed over, and he immediately wrapped his arms around his boyfriend, and despite looking confused he carefully hugged his boyfriend back, not really used to the public display of affection, although he revelled in it when they were in private. He really loved the easy attention and affection from the son of Apollo.

“Where on earth have you been?” Will asked as he pulled back, his eyes running over his boyfriend to check he wasn’t hurt.

“I’m fine, I-”

Nico looked slowly around the side of Will and noticed most of the people in the room were watching him, waiting, including Chiron.

“Nico?”

The two shifted at the voice, and Clovis finally entered the mess hall, a pillow clasped tight in his arms.

“I was with Clovis, I was tired and he kept the nightmares at bay for a while.” Nico said, finishing his sentence in a whisper, not that it was necessary.

Most of the campers knew Nico had terrible nightmares, a few times the Dionysus cabin and the Iris cabin had woke to his yells, but most of the time they didn’t last long, and if they did, someone only had to run for Will to help.

“Sorry, I panicked. I-”

Will tightened his hold on Nico, the Italian boy blushing as his boyfriend hadn’t let him go.

Most of the campers had returned to their meals, the sombre feeling having evaporated. 

“It’s okay, sorry. I should have told someone where I was going, but I thought I’d be up in time for you getting out of the infirmary, I set the alarm wrong, I’m sorry.”

Will shook his head slightly. 

Nico in his cabin had a regular alarm clock, but the Hypnos cabin kept a digital one so they could set the alarms to go off easier at intervals to wake them up if they needed to be awake. According to Malcolm Pace digital alarm clocks hadn’t been invented until 1956 and so before the Lotus Hotel Nico had never used one, and as his cabin didn’t have one, he always set them wrong, he’d done it once when he’d helped out in the infirmary overnight, and the two had been caught snuggling in one of the beds by Kayla when she’d arrived for her morning shift. Luckily she hadn’t told Chiron, but she made fun of Will for it at every available opportunity.

“Come on, we should sit, you need to eat Deathboy.”

“Sure, sure.” Nico said, rolling his eyes as he pulled away from his boyfriend and making his way to get some food.

“Hey Nico, maybe next time let someone know you’re off to the hypnos cabin.”

“Will do Sunshine.”

Will beamed, and grabbed some food, sacrificing some to his Father and joining his boyfriend at the Apollo table as the conversations shifted to allow Nico to join.

As Nico ate Will watched his boyfriend out of the corner of his eyes as he talked to Will’s siblings, gesturing wildly as he spoke. He looked much more rested than he had in a while which was a relief, and Will smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written quickly while sleep deprived RIP.
> 
> Hope you guys like this.
> 
> Review and leave kudos if you did, it really makes my day.


	10. Nightmares

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey!
> 
> Hope you enjoy this chapter.
> 
> HOWEVER
> 
> TRIGGER WARNING: MENTIONS OF BLOOD, NON PURPOSEFUL SELF HARM AND SCARS. Please stay safe and don't read if this triggers you in any way :)
> 
> Also I just read the Magnus Chase series (I bought it when I was younger, but then I lost them for personal reasons and didn't get to read them before I did) and I loved them. Obviously Alex is the best. HOWEVER, in the final book they visit the place I'm from and it was so painful. So painful. I imagine Rick Riordan has never been here, so the description is EXTREMELY off. The layout doesn't line up, the pronunciations are wrong, the streets are weird, some of the places that are meant to have certain things opposite them and vice versa don't have that opposite them and never have had it like that. Like I loved the series, but the mood was ruined with the terrible descriptions, but only because I know the truth :D

"Will. Will!"

Will's eyes shot open, and the hand shaking his shoulder retreated hastily as he shuffled in his bed, attempting to sit up.

"Austin?"

"Yeah."

"What's going on?" He asked, his speech slightly slurred with exhaustion.

Austin opened his mouth to respond, but closed it again as a horrified shriek erupted into the night air.

Will immediately shot out of bed, looking for his flips flops hurriedly.

"How long has this been happening?"

"Only a minute or so. Is it Nico?" Kayla asked carefully from where she was positioned near the front of their cabin.

Will sighed with relief as he found his shoes and slipped them on, rushing to the door.

"Will?" Kayla prompted.

"Yeah, yeah it's Nico." He said, before rushing off into the night.

It didn't take him long to reach his boyfriend's cabin, and he quickly tried to push past the people gathered at the front, including a tired, shocked looking Percy.

"Move." Will commanded as the crowd didn't thin. 

Luckily a few did at hearing the usually fairly laid back healer snap, but a few didn't. Will knew he didn't have the time, so he quickly shoved them to a side, forcing his way through and into the cabin, and gently shutting the door behind him.

"Nico? Sunshine?"

The first thing Will noticed was the swirling shadows filling the cabin, making the darkness almost oppressing. He tried not to focus on them, instead squinting in the direction of the bed before he quickly noticed his boyfriend wasn't in it.

Another shriek pierced through the cabin, and Will immediately zeroed in on it, finding his boyfriend in the darkest part of the cabin.

Tears were slipping down Nico's cheeks as he scratched at his arms frantically.

Will immediately lurched forward, before pausing, knelt a few inches away from his boyfriend.

"Nico?"

His boyfriend didn't respond, but he hadn't really expected him to.

"Nico? Nico, it's okay. Whatever you dreamt isn't real baby. You're safe. You're at Camp Half-Blood sunshine."

The shrieking died down, but it was clear the boy still wasn't present, not really, and he was still clawing at his arms.

Will knew that it wouldn't make the boy super comfortable, but he quickly grabbed Nico's hands, careful not to touch his nails which were caked in blood, just in case they hurt.

Nico struggled for a few moments, before his arms fell limp, all the desperation and fear leaving the younger boy.

"Nico? Are you with me? Can you try and control your breathing a little?"

Nico blinked furiously for a few seconds.

"Will?"

"Yeah baby, yeah, it's me." Will responded, relief coursing through his veins.

"Hurts." Nico whimpered.

"I know baby, I know. Can you try and match my breathing hun?"

Nico hummed slightly which Will quickly took as a good sign.

He carefully placed one of Nico's hands on his chest so he could feel the rise and fall of Will's carefully controlled breathing, whispering reassurances as he did so.

It took a good few minutes before Nico's breathing turned to normal under Will's helpful guidance.

"You back with me sweetheart?"

"Yeah." Nico rasped.

"I just need to grab something, I'll be back in a second okay."

Nico looked up at him with desperate eyes, and Will wanted nothing more than to never leave his partner's side, but he had to clean Nico up a bit to make sure he'd be physically okay.

"I'll be just a moment sweetheart, okay?"

Finally Nico nodded, and Will carefully squeezed his hand before moving to the door.

Most of the campers had been cleared away by Chiron, but Percy, Austin and Kayla remained.

"Is he okay?" Percy asked immediately as he saw the blond healer.

"He'll be okay. Kayla or Austin, can you grab me some wipes and bandages from the infirmary?"

"I'll get it." Austin offered.

"Thanks. You guys might as well head to bed." He said to Kayla and Percy as Austin ran off.

"Can I see him?" Percy asked, completely ignoring Will's suggestion.

"I think he probably doesn't want to be seen, but I can ask him."

Will quickly ducked back into the cabin, and delivered Nico's rejection to the son of Poseidon.

"Talk to him in the morning." Will suggestd.

The son of Poseidon nodded before making his way back to the Poseidon cabin.

"Is he going to be okay?" Kayla asked.

Kayla and Nico had developed quite a close friendship since Nico had taken to sitting at the Apollo table, even before they had started dating. Nico had enjoyed Kayla's snark and mix of easy going but sometimes rebellious attitude. Kayla liked Nico's dry, sarcastic humour. He'd also bonded with Austin about old music, and the younger son of Apollo was slowly helping the son of Hades catch up on pop culture.

"He'll be fine. I'm going to head back in. Go to bed Kayla."

"Night."

Will watched her until she got back into the cabin before he slipped back into the dark Hades cabin.

"Neeks?"

"I'm still okay."

"Good. That's good love. I'm going to need to clean up your arms, okay? Austin's just gone to grab some stuff, okay baby?"

"Thank you. I'm... I'm sorry that you have to deal with me."

Will crouched down to Nico's level where he was curled up on the floor, and he carefully placed a finger on his chin so his boyfriend would look him in the eyes.

"Never apologise for this Nico. You can't help having nightmares, heck, most demigods have them, and you've seen more than most. Of course you're going to have nightmares."

"I know, but everyone's going to think..."

"They're not going to think anything Neeks. They know what nightmares are like."

Nico didn't say anything, instead he pitched forward, resting his head on Will's shoulder and snuggling his face into his boyfriend's warm neck.

"You tired hun?"

"Yeah."

"Austin shouldn't be long and then we can get you into bed, yeah?"

"Yeah." He repeated, yawning as he did so.

There was a knock on the door, interrupting Will's thoughts.

"Austin?"

"Yeah."

Will quickly looked at his boyfriend who looked comfortable snuggled into his side.

"You can come in."

The door swung open gently and Austin carefully came in and gently dropped the bag of supplies down next to his brother.

"You okay Nico?"

"I'm good. Sorry for waking you up."

Austin waved a hand dismissively.

"It's fine. I'll see you for breakfast, yeah?"

"Yeah."

Austin flashed him a grin before he slipped out of the cabin and closed the door carefully behind him.

Will made quick work of cleaning Nico's wounds, dressing them afterwards to make sure they wouldn't get dirty.

Will looked down slightly and noticed that Nico seemed to be half asleep, his head now on Will's chest which had made it easier for him to get to his boyfriend's arms.

"Hey come on sweetheart, lets get you into bed."

It was a bit of a struggle as Nico resisted being carried, insisting he could walk to the bed, but finally the son of Hades was wrapped in blankets in bed, his face peaking out from his wrappings.

"You okay sweetheart?"

"Yeah. Can- can you stay?"

Will jolted a little bit, but quickly shook it off.

"Of course I can Neeks, move up."

Nico did as he was told, unfurling the blankets so the son of Apollo could join him.

Will opened his arms gently, and he smiled as Nico eagerly shuffled into them, seemingly relishing in his boyfriend's warmth as he snuggled closer, their bodies flush to each other. Nico's head came to rest on his chest, and his shifting stopped and he yawned.

"Lets get some sleep eh sweetheart?"

"Yeah."

Will carefully leant over, pressing a soft kiss to Nico's cheek.

"Night Nico."

"Night sunshine." The son of Hades whispered back, before he fell silent, and began to drift off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review and leave kudos if you liked it.
> 
> My tumblr is always open for prompts or the comments too.
> 
> On personal news I finally managed to get a repeat of my medication, so hopefully will be feeling top notch in a week or so :D


	11. Anniversary of Bianca's Death

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Few things, if you write oneshots in the Riordan verse, Christinaz13 on here posted one of mine and some other writers oneshots as her own. Thank you to the user who pointed this out for me! Just check to see if the person has posted yours.
> 
> Two, sorry I haven't written on here in a few days, I was writing a 10k+ oneshot for Nico's birthday on the 28th.
> 
> Third, I have an idea for a story, but I'm not entirely sure if I should write it. I don't want to say what it's about in case I don't, but yeah, yay or nay?
> 
> Also this was written really quickly, so sorry if it is no good.

Will paused as he exited the infirmary and noticed the absence of Nico. He sighed softly to himself, shaking his head as he went in search of his missing boyfriend.

It wasn't the first time Nico had accidentally forgotten they were meant to be meeting, and technically neither he nor Will had fully arranged to meet after his shift in the infirmary, but ninety eight percent of the time the son of Hades was waiting for him once he left the infirmary.

As Will headed towards the Hades cabin he pulled his jacket tight around him. Despite the magical camp border which regulated the weather, some of the harsh December winds rattled through camp, and most people kept their head down to protect themselves as they walked around.

Finally arriving at cabin thirteen, Will knocked confidently on the door, but there was no response.

"Nico?" He called, knocking again.

For a moment Will was overcome with a strong case of deja vu, but he quickly shook it off.

He knocked one final time, but with no response, he headed towards the Hypnos cabin, just in case Nico had gone there for some respite from nightmares. It wasn't often that Nico went to the Hypnos cabin, he was determined to try and sleep without the aid of someone else, but if he reached an excessive point of exhaustion he would.

As Will arrived at cabin fifteen, he knocked on the door loudly, knowing that if Clovis was in there it would be difficult to wake him.

After a few moments in which there was no answer, Will carefully opened the door.

He cast his eyes around, and he quickly saw Clovis sound asleep in his bed, but there was no sign of Will's boyfriend, so he quickly slipped the door closed so the harsh winter air wouldn't wake the sleeping son of Hypnos.

Once outside Will paused for a moment before he headed over towards the armory.

Luckily for the son of Apollo as he reached the armory he heard a long loud snore and he paused for a moment before making his way behind the large shed. 

On the other side Mrs O'Leary was fast asleep, snoring loudly, curled up into a ball, and Will grinned before he noticed the small figure curled up in the hellhound's fur.

Perched gently on top of the dog and fast asleep was Nico, and the sight of him made Will's heart break. The son of Hades' eyes were red rimmed and visible tears trickled down his face, even in sleep, he was also letting out soft and slight whimpers as the loud dog snored.

"Nico?" Will murmured.

The boy made no sign that he'd heard, so Will carefully shook his shoulder until Nico's eyes flickered open.

"Sweetheart, what's the matter?"

Nico took a deep breath and wiped harshly at his face with his sleeve before he turned to look at Will properly.

"I'm sorry." Nico mumbled.

"Hey, hey sweetheart, it's okay. What's the matter darling?"

Nico didn't say anything, but rubbed at his face again as more tears appeared.

"Oh sweetheart. Can I hug you?"

"Please." Nico whispered.

Nico carefully clambered off the sleeping hellhound, and Will immediately brought his boyfriend into his arms, rubbing his back as he cried into Will's shoulder.

"It's okay sweetheart, it's okay. I'm here." Will reassured the boy, making Nico only cling to him harder.

After a good fifteen minutes, Nico pulled back and rubbed his eyes again.

"Sorry sunshine." 

"Oh Nico, it's okay. Do you want to tell me what's wrong sweetheart?"

Nico looked down at his hands, twisting the skull ring anxiously for a few minutes.

"It was three years ago today that Bianca died."

Will immediately wrapped the son of Hades into a tight hug once more, whispering sweet reassurances into the boy's hair.

After a few minutes Will pulled back.

"Do you want to head back to your cabin? It's too cold out here, we don't want you getting sick sweetheart."

Nico looked up at his boyfriend sadly.

"I tried to stay in my cabin, but it felt so dark and unwelcoming. I thought I'd feel safest there, but it didn't feel right when I was there earlier, that's why I came out here. Mrs O'Leary found me."

Will ran a hand down Nico's back to reassure him.

"We'll go to the Apollo cabin then. Kayla took over from me in the infirmary and Austin is filming a video for his youtube channel in the Big House."

Nico took in a shaky breath, but nodded, and the two quickly made their way over to the cabins, hurrying against the onslaught of wind.

Finally, the two ducked inside, and Will kicked off his shoes and slipped into his bed, motioning for Nico to join him. 

After removing his shoes and slipping them neatly under Will's bed, he did.

"Do you want to talk about it sweetheart?"

"I don't know." He mumbled against Will's chest.

"There's no pressure, but if you want to I'll listen."

Silence fell for a few minutes, and Will ran his fingers through Nico's hair trying to provide some comfort to his shaking boyfriend.

"Bianca was my world." Nico finally said, breaking the silence.

"Hmm?" Will prompted.

"Bianca was pretty much the only person I knew in the entire world. We were in the Lotus Hotel with each other for like seventy five years, just the two of us. Even when we went to Westover we were alone, everything was confusing... different... and people thought we were weird. I started playing mythomagic so I wasn't alone all the time, and Bianca let me, but I didn't know... I didn't understand how much she resented me." Nico said, breaking off into a sob.

"No sweetheart, no. I'm sure she didn't resent you."

"She did! She must have, why else would she leave me?"

"Oh Neeks, I'm sure she didn't. Bianca was just a kid too, and she wanted someone to look after her just as much as you did. The Hunters... a lot of the girls I've known that have joined them wanted reassurance and safety that they felt the Hunters could provide. It was nothing to do with you, Bianca probably just wanted to feel safe, to feel as if she wasn't in charge for once."

Nico let out another heartbreaking sob, but he didn't say anything.

"I know you're right, but it's hard. When she died, everything felt wrong. I was alone, completely alone, and I didn't know what to do. I ran."

Will remembered hearing about the missing kid when he'd first arrived at Camp. Annabeth had described him to Will so that if anyone saw him they could let her know. He remembered how sad he felt thinking about the missing boy one year younger than him who was wandering around alone. He remembered hoping he would be okay.

"I'm so sorry that you were alone Nico, I'm sorry that you didn't know what to do." Will murmured after a few moments, unsure of how else to try and comfort his boyfriend.

"I don't feel alone anymore." Nico whispered, turning to look at Will slightly.

"I'm glad. You have me now, and you have Kayla and Austin who like you. You have Hazel and Jason and the rest of the seven too."

Nico frowned slightly at the end part but didn't say anything, instead burying his head back into Will's chest.

After a few minutes of Will's gentle humming, Nico raised his head.

"I'm tired."

"Do you want to take a nap sweetheart? I'll be right here when you wake up."

Nico dithered for a moment before he nodded.

Will quickly grabbed a book before settling down again so the son of Hades could curl up against him.

"Thanks Will." Nico mumbled as he began to drift off.

"No problem. Anytime."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Review and leave kudos if you liked it :)


	12. Will and Nico are dating?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wrote this quickly, hope you liked it.

"Sorry Percy, I'd really love to come, but I'm drowning under my work."

"It's fine Wise Girl, really." He insisted.

"I know, I know. I can't believe I got so distracted before, I was just thinking about this idea I had for a temple in New Rome and I ended up designing it and before I knew it I was behind."

Percy let out a soft sigh. He loved his Wise Girl, he really did, and her passion for things was part of it. He loved how her face would light up and how relaxed and at ease she was when she was designing. Annabeth knew exactly what she wanted to do with her life, she knew her passion. It was extremely endearing.

"It's okay Annabeth, camps going to be quiet anyway, I'll probably open pop in the for the day."

"Mmm. I'll see you Monday then? After school ends we can meet at the coffee shop?"

"Sure, see you then. Love you Wise Girl."

"Love you too Seaweed Brain."

As the call ended Percy smiled to himself as he began putting a bag of clothing together. He didn't intend to stay at the camp, but it was always better to have the bag, just in case. If something happened, having an emergency back up bag was essential.

His Mom was out with Paul when he left, so he quickly scrawled a note and attached it to the fridge with a magnet so she wouldn't miss it, before he swept out of the apartment, heading down to his car.

It only took him an hour and a half to reach camp, a thankfully peaceful hour, or as peaceful as it could be driving part way through New York City before he headed further out towards camp. As he arrived, he immediately parked next to the camp's minivan and made his way to the Big House.

Chiron smiled at him as he approached.

"Hello Percy."

"Hi Chiron, how are things?"

The centaur smiled.

"Things are going well here. The summer season is over of course, and its getting colder, but everything's going well. I believe some of the Hermes campers are planning a Halloween bash of kinds for the campers that stay here year round."

"Nice, is Connor taking the lead?"

"Ah, actually no, it was Cecil's idea. Connor has calmed down somewhat since Travis left."

"Ah."

Percy turned to look out over camp. In the distance he could see Sherman Yang and Ellis Wakefield attempting to scale the climbing wall as constant streams of lava ran down on them. At the archery range he could see Kayla shooting arrows at the targets with perfect precision. Near the edge of the woods some nymphs wandered about humming to themselves despite the slight cold.

After a few minutes Percy turned back to the centaur.

"Is Nico still here?"

Percy had been worried about the boy. Their friendship had been rocky the entire time they'd known each other, in fact to call it a friendship was being generous, but he definitely cared for the boy. Once Nico had told him he'd harbored a crush on the son of Poseidon but he wasn't his type, he'd come to realise how Nico had often put his life on the line for Percy, and how little he'd receive any thanks for it. He hadn't known the boy had a crush on him, but he had unknowingly benefitted from it. He'd felt extremely guilty, and he really wanted to try and make it up to the son of Hades, as did Annabeth, although they were still trying to work out how to do so without making Nico uncomfortable.

"Yes he's still here."

"Is he doing okay? Fitting in well?"

Chiron was silent for a few moments.

"He's definitely fitting in, being here with how quiet it is at the moment is probably good while he settles. He has made friends though." Chiron said with a grin.

Percy frowned, he felt as if he was missing something. Why was the immortal grinning? 

"Chiron?"

"You'll see. Why don't you have a wander around camp, I'm sure some of the campers will be delighted to see you."

Percy frowned, but he knew the centaur clearly had no intention of revealing whatever the secret was.

"Sure, will see you later."

"Of course."

As he left the Big House's porch he wrapped his jacket tighter around himself to avoid the slight chill. He decided to wander around the cabins first to see who was about.

"Hey Percy!"

Percy turned quickly on his heel and smiled.

"Hey Connor, how you doing?"

"Good good, I've been helping Cecil plan the Halloween thing, do you think you'll pop around?"

"I mean probably, Annabeth might be around too, but I'll have to check."

"Sure it'll be good I'm sure. Cecil's excited, and Austin is helping him with the music because he thinks Cecil's taste is terrible."

Percy didn't say anything, but he grinned. He'd heard some of the music Cecil liked and some of it was definitely... interesting.

"He has a point." Percy said finally.

"Yeah, don't tell Cecil I said that though."

"Yeah, not going to, don't worry."

"Wicked. So, what are you planning to do now?"

"Chiron said I should go for a wander around camp and see who's about."

"Mmm. If you want to find Nico he'll be in the infirmary."

"What? Why? Is he okay?"

"Oh, yeah no he's fine." Connor said with a grin.

"What? Why does everyone keep grinning about Nico?"

"We're not messing with him if that's what you mean. We like him, he's a good kid when you get to know him."

"Oh."

"You'll see if you go into the infirmary. It's quiet at the moment so..."

"Right, right yeah. See you in a bit?"

"Sure, I have to get this stuff back to Cecil anyway. See you."

With that Connor ran off, and Percy sighed before he made his way to the infirmary. He wasn't sure why Connor had pushed him towards going to find Nico, but it seemed as if that was what Chiron had been attempting too. What on earth was going on?

As he reached the infirmary he opened the door slowly, closing it behind him. The main room was empty and he sighed, moving further into the back to find Nico. The further in he went, the more nervous he felt. This would be one of his first attempts to try and bond with the boy and apologise to him, but he didn't want Nico to make Nico uncomfortable either. The further he ventured, the more he doubted himself. Maybe he should wait until he was with Annabeth?

Finally from the last room down the hall he heard a gasp, and he walked towards it, noticing that the door was open a crack and there was a small stream of light illuminating the slightly dark corridor. Once reaching the door, he pushed it open slightly, and his mouth fell open.

The room which was clearly some sort of office for the infirmary was occupied by one large desk, but that wasn't the surprise.

Rather, the fact that Nico was sitting on it, his legs dangling down with Will Solace between them was the shock. The two boys seemed to be heavily making out, and judging by the states of their hair, they'd been doing so for quite a while.

"What the fuck?" Percy blurted.

Immediately the two leapt apart and Nico looked down at the floor, not bothering to make any eye contact with the son of Poseidon nor Will who was blushing madly.

"Percy!" Will cried.

Nico didn't move.

"Sorry, I- I didn't mean to burst in and disturb you. Gods, I-"

"It's fine Percy." Will muttered, although he looked slightly put out at being disturbed.

Nico still hadn't said anything, and it seemed as if Will had realised it too.

"Neeks?" He murmured turning his attention to the boy again.

Percy didn't say anything, but he couldn't take his eyes off the scene in front of him.

As Nico didn't respond to the healer, Will gently placed a finger on his chin to guide his face upwards so Will could see him. Percy felt his heart break slightly as he saw the son of Hades was silently crying, his eyes darting around the room frantically, his breath hitching.

"Hey sunshine, hey, it's okay. It's okay sweetheart. You're safe."

Nico didn't say anything.

"Sweetheart, can you tell me what's going on?"

"I'm sorry." Nico murmured.

"Hey, hey, it's okay. What are you sorry for?"

"I- I-" Nico cut himself off as he choked slightly.

"Okay Nico, okay, can you take a deep breath for me?"

The son of Hades clearly attempted to do so, but he didn't quite manage it. Seeing this, Will carefully grabbed Nico's hand and placed it on his chest.

"Can you match my breathing sweetheart?"

Percy felt helpless as he watched the two, unable to help. 

"Good, you're doing so well sunshine." Will murmured.

It took a few minutes but finally the son of Hades' breathing calmed and he slumped forward, his head coming to rest on Will's shoulder.

"Nico?" Percy ventured.

"I'm okay. I just panicked slightly. I'm okay."

Will ran a hand down Nico's back reassuringly.

"What happened sweetheart?" Will asked quietly.

Nico didn't say anything for a few moments.

"I forgot for a second. I-I didn't mean to, I just-"

Will clearly knew what Nico meant so he pulled him tight to himself for a second before moving away a slight amount.

"You're safe sweetheart, you're safe. Everyone at camp knows, and no one has an issue with it. It's normal."

"I know."

Will pressed a kiss to Nico's temple before moving back further.

"Are you tired Neeks?"

"Yeah."

"All right then, let's go take a nap, yeah?"

"Yeah, all right."

Percy didn't say anything, but watched as Will carefully guided Nico out of the room and after a few moments he heard them head out of the infirmary all together. The son of Poseidon sighed, taking a moment to collect himself before leaving the infirmary too and heading straight towards the archery range knowing Kayla would be able to answer his questions.

It only took him a minute or two to reach them, although he wasn't entirely sure if he'd just tuned out the walk.

"Kayla!"

The girl let her another arrow fly at the target before she turned.

"Percy? What's going on?"

It only took him a few minutes to explain but once he did, Kayla's eyes fluttered closed for a second before she opened them again.

"Kayla?"

"Nico sometimes panics. You know he grew up in the thirties right?"

"I did."

"Well, what do you imagine the attitude was towards gay people back then?"

Percy grimaced.

"Exactly. Will, Austin and I have been helping him understand that it's okay, and he knows deep down it is, but sometimes when he gets a shock he forgets."

"Wait Austin's helping too?"

"Well, yeah. I mean Will's bi and I'm a lesbian, so we're pretty good at helping him out. Plus Austin's openly aroace, so he helps explain stuff too."

"Ah."

"He's aroace, and I'm the arrow ace of the Apollo cabin." Kayla said with a grin.

"How often have you used that one?"

"Oh, a ton. Austin threatened to take my arrows if I say it again to him."

Percy laughed.

"But Nico's getting better, at least about his sexuality. He's more comfortable, and I'm not sure if he'll ever be overly comfortable with PDA, or at least not a lot of it, but he is getting better."

"Good, good."

PJOHOOTOA

Percy sighed collapsing down onto his bed in his cabin after dinner. He'd seen Will and Nico at dinner, he'd seen how they acted as they sat together at the Apollo table. He'd seen how the son of Hades had laughed with Will, Austin and Kayla, clearly comfortable with the children of Apollo. He'd also seen the boy interact with Cecil, the two laughing and grinning together after dinner near the fire where Hestia sometimes sat.

Clearly Nico was settling in at camp, and sure Percy was surprised the boy had got a boyfriend so soon, and he was also surprised that the boyfriend he had was Will Solace, the literal embodiment of sunshine, but clearly Nico was happy, and was seemingly growing more comfortable in his own skin, and some of that was Will's presence, but some of it was Nico's own work too.

Percy sighed. Clearly being at the camp was good for Nico.

It was still surprising that he was dating Will Solace though. 

Although, they do say opposites attract.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Read and review and leave kudos if you liked it.
> 
> Also there's a mouse in my studio room in my kitchen area, and it terrifies me, please send help.
> 
> Prompts open.


	13. Winter in the Hades Cabin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the prompt Ryosa. I'll probably end up writing maybe one more of the ones you suggested. Anyway, hope this is kind of what you had in mind.
> 
> 'It's winter and Nico is very cold in his cabin, and Will comes in, starts a fire at a fireplace in his cabin and they cuddle together.'
> 
> Hope you all enjoy.

In the blistering heat of the summer, Will loved the Hades cabin. He wasn’t sure if it was the obsidian that kept the cabin cool, or the fact there were no windows, meaning it was perfectly shady at all times. Whatever it was, it meant the cabin was the perfect spot for Will and Nico to hang out at the brief times where Will didn’t want to be in the sun, not that it happened too often.

The fact that the cabin was never warm, and always chill was such a relief in summer.

For a couple of hours a day, after Will had dragged his boyfriend out into the sun, the two would relax, lying together on the cool obsidian floor of the Hades cabin and let the cool air wash over them. 

In summer, Will often couldn’t think of anything better.

PJOHOOTOA.

“Nico?” Will asked as the son of Hades barelled into his side, pushing himself under the son of Apollo’s arm and clinging to him.

“Hmm?”

“Are you okay sunshine?”

Despite the fact they’d been dating for a few months, Nico still wasn’t comfortable with too much affection in public, but Will didn’t mind. His boyfriend was super affectionate behind closed doors, and he would do anything he possibly could to make the boy comfortable.

“Mmm, you’re warm.” The son of Hades muttered.

Will didn’t say anything, instead he shuffled impossibly closer to his boyfriend, keeping the arm wrapped around him before turning back to the conversation he’d previously been having with Kayla and Austin. From under his arm he could feel the son of Hades relax at the fact that Will didn’t pull away.

From what he could feel of Nico, the boy felt like ice, cooler than he usually would, but as the temperatures were changing he put it down to the walk to the dining pavilion, although mentally he made a note to make sure Nico actually had winter clothing so he wouldn’t freeze to death during the cold winters in New York.

As the conversation continued, Nico didn’t move, and with relief, Will could feel Nico’s skin warming up, returning to his usual, still cool temperature. Despite this, he didn’t move his arm, instead he tried to pull Nico closer, wanting to keep Nico warm no matter what.

PJOHOOTOA.

The next morning it happened again.

Will had once again been sitting with his siblings after a night shift in the infirmary when Nico had barelled into his side, allowing Will to automatically wrap his arms around the smaller boy. For some reason Nico’s skin felt even cooler than it had the day before and for a second Will had to suppress a shudder.

“You okay?” Nico asked, looking up through his eyelashes at his boyfriend.

“I’m fine, are you? You feel cold.”

Nico buried his face into Will’s shoulder, not responding, and Will carefully ran his fingersthrough Nico’s hair. If Nico wanted to tell Will what was going on, he was sure he would, Nico was getting better at looking after himself now he felt like people wanted him to. 

As Nico didn’t respond, Will just pressed a soft kiss to the side of Nico’s head and once again joined in the conversation with his siblings, allowing the son of Hades to receive the warmth and comfort it seemed he so desperately craved.

PJOHOOTOA.

The same pattern continued for a week.

Every morning Will would sit down for breakfast after finishing his night shift in the infirmary, and once Nico arrived he would practically launch himself at his boyfriend in order to bask in Will’s natural warmth.

It was getting to the point that it was becoming concerning however. Will didn’t believe there was any way that Nico was getting so cold just walking to the pavilion from cabin thirteen every morning, but as Nico never brought it up, and he didn’t want to pester his boyfriend and make him uncomfortable, he didn’t bring it up.

It wasn’t until a week after Nico had first barelled into him that he’d worked it out.

PJOHOOTOA.

After a week of night shifts, sleeping all morning and then being awake for most of the afternoon, Will switched back to day shifts. Chiron had decided he could do night shifts as it wasn’t good for any of the children of Apollo’s health to be working nights when they were all fifteen and under.

After a refreshing night in the Apollo cabin, buried under thick blankets despite the fact the cabin never really got cold, Will woke up, showered and headed to the Hades cabin to see if he could wake Nico up for breakfast.

As he knocked on the door lightly, he heard a soft response from the other side, but he could barely make it out.

“Nico? Can I come in?”

The soft noise echoed from inside once more, but this time it was obviously agreement, so Will grasped the handle and slipped inside, the door swinging shut behind him softly.

As soon as Will stepped inside however, he immediately shivered.

Cabin thirteen was freezing. The floor was practically ice, he could see his breath billowing in front of him in small puffs of fog, and immediately he knew if he wasn’t the child of the literal sun, his entire body would practically be numb from the cold.

“Nico?”

It only took Will a second to find his boyfriend, and he immediately frowned.

Nico had dragged his mattress off his bed and was perched, shivering next to fire while wrapped in as many blankets as he could find. Despite this, the boy was shaking, and his lips were practically blue from the cold.

“Nico!”

Immediately Will flung himself towards his boyfriend and placed his hand to his partners face and hissed as the cold skin made contact. Nico was freezing.

“Hi.” Nico muttered, his teeth chattering.

“Open up the blankets and let me in?”

Nico nodded and reluctantly opened the blankets to his boyfriend but sighed in relief when his ice skin made contact with Will’s warmth. Knowing he had to try and warm his boyfriend up, Will immediately wrapped the blankets around them, pulling Nico onto his lap to try and warm him up further.

“Oh sweetheart, you’re freezing.”

Nico groaned slightly.

“I can’t work out how to make it warm, the fire doesn’t help too much.” He muttered.

Will didn’t say anything for a few minutes, instead running his warm hands up and down Nico’s freezing arms covered in goosebumps. The more he continued his actions, the more relaxed Nico felt resting against him.

After a few minutes Will turned to look at his boyfriend.

From where he was sitting, he could look down on Nico, and he smiled. Nico had his head resting lightly on Will’s shoulder, his face practically buried into the older boy’s neck, his arms wrapped tightly around the son of Apollo. Further down he could also feel Nico’s ice feet pressing against the small of his warm back, despite the socks the son of Hades was wearing.

“Gods, you’re so cold Neeks.”

“I know, I’m sorry.”

Will gripped him tighter.

“Don’t apologise sunshine. I’m always willing to warm you up.”

Nico hummed softly.

Thinking for a moment, Will decided to shift slightly so the blanket would cover their heads, encasing them entirely. As he did so, Nico relaxed further, something Will hadn’t even realised would be physically possible.

“Neeks, is this why you’ve been so cuddly every morning.”

Nico shifted and looked up at his boyfriend and scowled slightly, but Will knew there was no real anger behind the action, instead he was fairly sure the son of Hades was feeling slightly embarrassed, at least he assumed so because of the slight blush beginning to spread across his cheeks.

“I’m not cuddly.” Nico grumbled.

Will didn’t respond, instead pressing a kiss to the son of Hades’ temple and wrapping his arms impossibly tighter around him.

Finally, Nico sighed.

“Yeah, I’ve been super cold every night. I just can’t get warm, it’s normally pretty bad, but in winter…”

“I’m sorry I didn’t notice sweetheart.”

Nico shrugged.

“Well, you know I’m always willing to snuggle you, but we should probably do something about how cold your cabin is.”

Nico nodded against Will’s neck.

“I’ll ask Chiron later if he has any heaters or anything, if not we’ll have to buy some, I can’t allow my favourite patient to be cold every night.”

Will smirked to himself when he felt Nico slap his arm lightly.

“Until then, I guess I’ll have to stay in your cabin with you, as your personal hot water bottle. For medical reasons of course.” 

He could feel Nico smiling against his neck, although he was sure if he asked about it, the boy would deny it vehemently. 

After a few more minutes of comfortable silence and snuggling, Will spoke up again.

“Hey Nico, can you look at me a second?”

Nico immediately did as he was told, making Will smile at his partner softly.

As he looked at his boyfriend, it only took him a few seconds to realise that despite some colour returning to Nico’s skin, his lips were still slightly blue. 

Will frowned.

“Your lips are blue.” He informed his boyfriend.

“Oh.”

“I can think of a way of fixing that.” Will told him, wiggling his eyebrows slightly.

“You’re the worst.” Nico said, slalpping his arm again.

“Was that a no?”

Nico didn’t say anything, instead he leant forward and attached his lips to Will’s and they moved in unison for a few minutes before they had to pull back for breath. 

“How are they now?” Nico asked.

Will’s eyes immediately fluttered to his boyfriend’s lips.

“I think I might have to do the procedure again.” Will informed him.

“You’re a dork.” Nico muttered, before attaching their lips again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review and leave kudos if you liked it, it really makes my day. 
> 
> Especially after my brain is mush from all my work. Eek.


	14. Ticklish

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt for Something_1987, hope you like it.

It started when Jason placed a hand on Nico’s hip and the son of Hades jerked away immediately, yelping slightly before staring at the son of Jupiter with wide eyes.

“Sorry Neeks, I forgot you’re not a huge fan of touch.” Jason apologised.

Nico’s face was slightly red, and he looked around quickly, his eyes meeting Will’s, who beamed at his boyfriend happily. Nico flushed harder.

“It’s fine, just don’t do it again.”

“Sure.”

With that, the two children of the big three continued their training, swords clashing, forehead’s dripping with sweat as they fought.

PJOHOOTOA.

Will noticed it again once Nico had been dragged to the infirmary a week or so later.

The son of Hades had been half carried into the infirmary by a slightly grinning Connor Stoll, the younger boy cursing the entire time as he tried to shift the weight off his ankle.

“Nico!”

Will immediately hurried over to his boyfriend and carefully guided him to the closest bed, removing him from Connor’s arms as he did so. Nico let out a soft sigh as the weight left his ankle completely, and he leant back against the pillows on the bed.

“Sweetheart, what happened?”

“Mrs O’Leary launched herself at me.” He muttered.

“What?!”

“Not in a normal hellhound way, don’t worry.”

“What happened?” Will demanded, although his face was soft as he looked at his boyfriend.

“She was running, and I think she forgot to slow down.” 

“To be fair, she did look sad when she realised she’d hurt, she kept whining.” Connor explained.

Will started, he had completely forgotten the son of Hermes was there.

“Yeah, I think she just wanted attention.” Nico explained.

“Fine, fine. Anywhere specific hurting?”

“Ankle.”

“All right sweetheart.”

“You good now Nico?” Connor asked.

“Sure, thanks Connor.”

“No problem, see you two later.”

With that, Connor disappeared and Will immediately turned his attention back to his boyfriend grabbing Nico’s foot in hand, causing Nico to let out a sort of hysterical giggle before squirming away from Will’s hands.

“Nico?”

“Wrong ankle.”

Will blushed.

“Right, sorry.”

Carefully, Will rolled up Nico’s trouser leg and as his hands made contact with the area behind his knee, Nico let out a strangled giggle once more.

“Nico?”

“I’m fine.”

Will raised an eyebrow, but Nico didn’t say anything, instead turning away from his boyfriend in order to hide his violently blushing face. Will didn’t say anything, but he couldn’t help but think how cute Nico looked when he was flustered.

PJOHOOTOA.

As Nico and Will reappeared under Thalia’s tree, Nico immediately leant forward practically collapsing into Will’s arms.

“Woah, hold up sweetheart, are you dizzy?”

“Mmm, might have pushed it with the shadow travelling today.”

The two had spent the day in New York City, and they’d only planned shadow travelling there and back, but they’d run into some trouble. They’d been leisurely walking towards a clothing store Will wanted to visit when they’d been jumped by a group of older teens trying to rob them.

Nico could have easily taken the teens, and Will could have definitely held his own, but neither of them particularly wanted to hurt their attackers, at least not to the extent they might have if they’d have fought back.

In order to escape, Nico had grabbed Will’s wrist, and dove towards one of the shadows, disappearing into it immediately. As the two reappeared much closer to the shop than they had been before, the two laughed as they nibbled on ambrosia. The teens would likely be so confused as to how kids had disappeared in front of their very eyes. Will wondered how the mist would cover that.

“Okay sweetheart, do you need the infirmary?”

“No, cabin please?”

“Of course darlin.’”

As Will slipped his hands under Nico’s armpits, the boy immediately squirmed away, dropping to the floor violently.

“Neeks!” Will cried, dropping to his knees beside his boyfriend.

“Sorry.”

“No, no you’re fine. Did I startle you?”

Nico blushed, not meeting Will’s eyes.

“Yeah, you startled me.” He said after a few seconds of silence.

“Sorry sunshine, I won’t pick you up in a firemans lift if that makes you uncomfortable.”

“Thanks.”

Instead Will carefully pulled Nico onto his bag, rising quickly. It only took a moment for Nico’s head to drop onto Will’s shoulder, and a few seconds later, a few soft snores left Nico’s mouth, making Will smile. Gods his boyfriend was adorable.

PJOHOOTOA.

It didn’t come together until the two boyfriends were curled up together watching a movie on the laptop Austin had let them borrow in the Hades cabin.

Despite the shitty action movie playing on the screen, neither of the boys were paying particular attention, instead flinging popcorn at each other, teasing each other and sharing soft kisses every thirty seconds or so.

“Gods, you’re so beautiful Death Boy.”

Nico blushed, and shoved his boyfriend.

“Says you!”

“Yes, says me.” Will teased, reattaching their lips. 

As they pulled apart, Nico snorted.

“Gods, you’re such a dork Solace.”

“A dork! I’ll show you a dork.” Will joked.

He leant forward and immediately wiggled his fingers against Nico’s stomach, and immediately the smaller boy burst into hysterical laughter. Will was delighted, and continued.

“Stop! Stop.” Nico laughed.

“Say I’m not a dork.”

“Never!”

Will continued his ministraitions making the son of Hades curl up into a tighter ball, laughter still erupting deep from within his stomach.

“I’ll keep doing this until you admit you’re more of a dork than I am.”

“Fine! Fine! I’m a dork.”

Will grinned, and pulled Nico into his lap, finally stopping his tickle attack on the boy. Nico immediately relaxed against Will, and the son of Apollo beamed at his boyfriend, wiping the tears of laughter that had fallen down his cheeks.

“I didn’t know you were so ticklish Neeks.”

“I’m not.” Nico protested.

“You’re not? So you won’t mind if-”

“Don’t!”

“Okay, okay, I won’t. But you are ticklish.”

“Fine, I am, but don’t tell anyone.” Nico mumbled, pressing his face into Will’s chest, embarrassed.

“Don’t worry I won’t, although you look adorable curled up like that, laughing.”

Nico raised his head to glare at his boyfriend, and Will winked at him.

It was a while before either of them spoke again, although they still weren’t paying attention to the movie, but rather just enjoying being curled up together and cherishing each others presence.

“Wait, Neeks?”

“Hmm?”

“Is that why you laughed when I tried to pick you up that time on Half-Blood Hill? Or when I touched your foot in the infirmary?”

The blush that had been finally dying down rose up again.

“Yes.” Nico begrudgingly admitted.

“Gods your adorable Neeks.”

Nico rolled his eyes.

“Just kiss me Solace.”

“Sir yes sir.”

Nico rolled his eyes again, but didn’t say anything, instead letting Will close the gap between them once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a review and kudos if you liked it.
> 
> Thanks for the prompts guys. Might take me a while to do some of them as I have quite a busy timetable, but yeah :D


	15. Tattoos

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!
> 
> Prompt for vcid. I did it about Will's tattoo and the story behind it. Kind of at least. I wanted to write a drabble/one shot about Nico having a tattoo so I kind of incorporated that, hope that's okay.
> 
> Anyway, hope people enjoy.
> 
> Also a heads up if you leave hate I will just delete the comment cos I cba with it. 
> 
> Also sometimes when I write a character as being overly negative etc...I'm doing it from the perspective if another character and it doesn't always reflect my feelings about the characters accurately. If you want a harmless discussion about it that's fine but writing harsh comments isn't. Let people have their own opinions like damn

Tattoos

Nico lay with his head resting on his boyfriend’s chest as Will emanated a slight glow lighting up the Hades cabin with soft sunshiney light. He sighed snuggling slightly closer, and he felt Will let out a soft puff of breath before he relaxed again.

“You okay Solace?” Nico asked, peering up at his boyfriend softly.

“Yeah, I’m good sorry, you’re just so cute.”

The son of Hades rolled his eyes at his boyfriend before he rested his head back down. For a few moments he lay there, his eyes closed as he relaxed, before he opened them again, staring at the tattoo on Will’s left pectoral. Nico would never tell the boy how much he loved the tattoo, he was too embarrassed, but he loved it. Its essence just screamed Will.

After staring for a moment Nico raised his hand and gently ran his fingers over the slightly raised skin, admiring the tattoo. As he touched it, Will let out a soft gasp, and Nico immediately pulled his hand away.

“I’m sorry.” He muttered.

As he went to lower his hand, Will gently grabbed it, stroking it for a moment before placing it back over the tattoo. 

Nico stared at him.

“There’s nothing to be sorry about sweetheart, it feels nice.”

“But-”

“No, it does, sorry your hands were a little cold, and I wasn’t expecting it, you’re fine now.”

Nico looked at his boyfriend and seeing the truth reflecting from Will’s eyes, not that the son of Apollo could lie to save his life, he carefully placed his fingers back on the tattoo, tracing the swirls with delicate fingers. As he continued, Will relaxed, his head laying back on Nico’s pillow and letting the son of Hades continue his actions.

“Will?” Nico asked after a few minutes of comfortable silence.

“Yeah?”

“Where did you get your tattoo?”

Will shifted so he was leaning on his elbow so he could see his boyfriend properly and they were both slightly elevated. Despite the movement Nico only shifted to move his head to his boyfriend’s shoulder, still tracing the tattoo softly.

“I got a joint one with my Mom.”

Nico turned to face him.

“You did?”

“Mmm, last time she was in New York we got matching ones. One of her roadies does tattoos as well as helping with the equipment. An interesting combination but, you know?”

“Why the sun? It is because of your Dad?”

“No, although I guess that's what it seems like. My Mom and I loved the sun, makes sense with my dad being who he is, but all of our best days before I came to camp were in the sun, and my Mom just gives off a sunny disposition, you know.”

“Mmm.”

“My Mom’s a singer, you know?”

“Yeah.”

“At first I thought that was the main thing that originally called Apollo to her, but I think the way she seems to radiate the sun was probably a factor too.”

“Mmm. She sounds great.”

“She is. I miss her a lot, but I get to see her when she’s in New York, and I love staying at camp. Especially because I get to see you.” Will added, pressing a kiss to his boyfriend’s temple.

“How come you came to camp? You’ve been here for years right?”

“Yeah.”

“You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

“I do, I have no problem telling you Neeks.”

Nico slapped his arm lightly, but didn’t respond, giving Will the room to speak when he was ready.

“It was complicated. When I was young there weren’t really any monsters, so that wasn’t the issue, but when my Mom was on tour I’d stay with my Grandpa and Grandma. My grandpa’s a pastor.”

Nico frowned.

“A bit like a priest, but I don’t think they’re catholic. You were raised catholic right?”

“Yeah, Roman Catholic.”

“Ah, yeah so my Grandpa was a pastor, and when my Mom had to go on tour I’d stay with him and grandma, and that was fine, but my grandpa would sometimes go on spiels… not positive ones.”

Nico frowned for a moment before it dawned on him.

“He was homophobic?”

“Yeah, Even before knowing I am bi my Mom didn’t want me growing up around hatred, she obviously didn’t agree with his views. I knew I was bi by then, but didn’t know the word, so I was upset with what he’d said and I told my Mom when she got back from tour and she was horrified. We talked about it, even though I was really young like nine or ten I think and about the options. She was completely willing to stop touring and find a different job if I’d have wanted it, she offered, but I couldn’t do that to her. She loves performing and singing, and I didn’t want her to stop. Apollo had told her about camp when he’d discovered she was pregnant, like seven months into it, and basically I chose to come here. My Mom and I are super close still though. She tries to come up here as often as possible, and we call and email as much as we can. I adore my Mom. We got the tattoos to feel more connected, for years it’s just been me and my Mom, and this just seemed to be a way of hammering it home. It was my idea, and once she was completely sure I wasn’t going to change my mind I got the tattoo. I was fourteen I think. I love my Mom, and even if we don't get to see each other as much as we'd lke, having the tattoo is like a piece of her is always with me, you know?”

"I know."

Nico nodded, continuing to trace the tattoo for a little while longer before Will broke the peace that hung over the Hades cabin.

“Would you ever get a tattoo, Neeks?”

“I have one already.” Nico responded casually.

Will blinked for a second before sitting up, adjusting his boyfriend to look at him. 

“You have a tattoo?”

“Yeah.”

“What? Where? When?”

“You haven’t seen it?”

“No! Can I see it?”

Nico deliberated for only a second before he slipped his ramones t-shirt off, joining Will in being topless and motioning to his left shoulder. Will carefully adjusted his boyfriend so he could see the tattoo and he carefully touched his warm hands to it.

Upon Nico’s left shoulder was a tattoo of a bow and arrow with a dotted line for the bowstring, and a couple of circles representing the way it would fire, and underneath it in cursive letters was the name Bianca.

Will carefully traced it before turning to his boyfriend.

“The bow and arrow because of her being a hunter?”

“Mmm, plus according to the lady who gave me it represents the time period Bianca was born. She was born on November 23rd, and there’s apparently this thing-”

“Oh, she’s a sagittarius.”

Nico frowned for a second.

“Yeah, that’s what the lady said, and she seemed to know what she was talking about, so…”

Will just nodded, turning Nico slightly so he could trace the tattoo again. The work was quite delicate, but despite that it really suited Nico, and he knew it Bianca was even half as good as Nico described her, at least before she joined the hunters, then it would clearly fit her too. The tattoo was nicely done.

“When did you get this?”

Nico hummed for a moment in thought.

“I think I was thirteen, maybe twelve. It’s hard to remember, time seemed to blur together at the time.”

Will ran his fingers through his boyfriend’s hair softly, and smiled as Nico leant into the touch, burrowing his head slightly into Will’s large palm. For a few moments they stayed like that before Will spoke again.

“Where did you get it done?”

“New Rome. The SPQR tattoos they have are done by someone in the cohorts, but there are tattoo artists in the city. I managed to persuade one there to give me one, they didn’t know I wasn’t actually part of it at first, but when they found out I was the ambassador of Pluto they did it for me.”

“How come you decided to get one?”

“When I brought Hazel back from the underworld, I’d been looking for Bianca.”

Will began to run his fingers through Nico’s hair again.

“I thought… because the doors of death were open I could bring Bianca back, but she’d chosen rebirth, without telling me, and it hurt, but I tried to brush it off, you know?”

Will carefully wiped away some tears that had begun falling down Nico’s face, but he didn’t say anything. He knew Nico wanted to let it out, and sitting in silence and just supporting him was what Nico liked in such moments.

“I ended up finding Hazel in the fields of Asphodel, and I brought her back and ended up taking her to Camp Jupiter, and I don’t know. I just… I didn’t want to feel as if I was forgetting Bianca, you know? I still miss her everyday, and I thought… I thought the tattoo would help. Would help me remember, let her know wherever she is, even though she won’t know it, that I still care for her.”

The son of Apollo ran his hands across Nico’s cheeks, catching the tears before he brought his arms completely around his boyfriend.

“I understand Neeks, I understand. I’m sure wherever Bianca is, she knows that Hazel was never going to be her replacement. Did the tattoo help?”

“Yeah.”

“Good.” Will murmured, carefully sweeping Nico’s hair away from his face.

Nico smiled up at his boyfriend with a slightly wet smile.

“Thanks Will. You always help me feel better.”

“Always sunshine. Always.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompts closed for now as I have a ton of work ughhhh
> 
> https://www.google.com/search?q=bow+and+arrow+tattoo&sxsrf=ALeKk00fuxEXyLi0ybLiMxZt9-92aPU1Sg:1612901439256&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiGq-CKzt3uAhWSunEKHQeOBgUQ_AUoAXoECCAQAw&biw=1366&bih=657#imgrc=NGpYxDpBnGrLhM (this is the kind of thing I had in mind for Nico's tattoo with Bianca written below it, the last a in her name coming to stop a tiny bit away from the bottom of the arrow.


	16. Storms

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written Quickly.

Will sighed as his eyes flickered open.

Outside of his cabin, thunder was booming violently above, and every now and then, the Apollo cabin lit up as the sky flashed with lightning. Apart from that, the cabin was silent, which reassured him enough to continue trying to sleep as he was sure Kayla and Austin were still fast asleep, barely bothered by the storm. 

For a moment, something felt out of place, but Will couldn’t place it. For a moment he waited, but when nothing happened, he sleepily rubbed his eyes and bundled himself up under his blankets again.

If anyone needed him, they could wake him up, they knew that.

With that, Will closed his eyes and tried to sleep again.

PJOHOOTOA.

Nico whimpered slightly where he stood on the porch to the Apollo cabin.

His black pyjamas were soaking wet from the small walk between his cabin and Will’s, sticking to his skin uncomfortably and making him shiver, as he tried to stop sobs from breaking free from his throat. His hair was plastered to his head, and dripping onto his face, mingling with the tears that were sliding down it.

He wanted Will, he wanted to wake him up, he needed the comfort, but he was scared. 

What if Will was angry at him for waking him up?

As another flash of lightning lit up the sky another broken sob escaped him. He wanted to shadow travel away, go somewhere quiet where he would be safe, but he was too tired. He would likely get hurt if he tried, and he knew Will would be upset if he put himself at risk, and he didn’t want to upset his boyfriend. 

Another crash of thunder, and Nico lightly knocked on the door to the Apollo cabin before he could stop himself. 

He knew Will wouldn’t be angry at him, he knew that, but he couldn’t help the insecurity bubble in his chest. He’d never woke Will up before, what if he hated being disturbed in the night? It was too late though, he’d already knocked, and he knew he wouldn’t be able to make it back to the Hades cabin without being seen.

PJOHOOTOA.

Will shot up as a soft knock sounded on the door to his cabin.

Across the room he saw Kayla and Austin frown as they opened their eyes, Austin rubbing his eyes sleepily with the back of his hand as he yawned.

“Was that the door?” Kayla asked as she tried to keep her eyes open.

“I think so, don’t worry though, I’ll check.”

Will quickly stood and moved to the door as fast as his lethargic limbs would allow him. As another flash of lightning lit up the cabin, Will pulled open the door, and his mouth fell open at the sight of a sobbing, dripping wet Nico di Angelo standing in the doorway.

“Neeks? What are you doing here? You’re soaking wet!”

A sob tore its way out of the son of Hades’ throat, and Will immediately pulled him into the cabin.

“Nico?” Kayla asked tiredly.

“Can one of you get me a towel please?” Will asked softly as he guided the weeping Nico over to his bed.

Neither of them responded, but a moment later Austin was passing him a large yellow towel which Will immediately wrapped around Nico while Kayla flicked on a small lamp allowing a soft glow to light up the Apollo cabin.

“Thanks guys.”

The younger son of Apollo hummed noncommitedly and Kayla didn’t say anything as Will ran his hands over Nico trying to dry him off.

“Neeks, what’s the matter, sunshine?”

Nico shook his head slightly, before leaning forward to bury his head into Will’s chest. As he did so, Will moved to dry his hair slightly before he wrapped his arms tight around his boyfriend. Nico didn’t say anything for a while, just sobbing heavily into Will’s shoulder while Will ran his hands down Nico’s back soothingly.

The cabin was silent apart from the sobs for a while before Nico pulled back, wiping his eyes and refusing to meet Will’s own.

“Nico?”

“I’m sorry.” He whispered.

“It’s okay sunshine, it’s okay. Do you want to tell me what’s up hmm?”

Nico shrugged slightly and Will gently pressed a kiss to his boyfriend’s temple, not caring that Kayla and Austin were likely staring at them.

“How about this Neeks, I let you borrow some clothes hmm, let you get properly dry, and then we can talk, okay?”

“Yeah.” Nico rasped.

“Good.”

Will moved to grab some of his smallest clothes out of his draws before he pressed them into Nico’s hands and ushered him towards the bathroom so he could change.

“Do you think he’s okay?” Austin asked quietly.

“I’m not sure, but he’s come here looking for reassurance, and that’s a huge step for him.” Will murmured softly so Nico wouldn’t be able to hear him.

“It’s good he feels comfortable enough to come here.” Kayla agreed.

Will was about to respond but the door to the bathroom opened, and his mouth fell open slightly as he saw Nico. He looked adorable in Will’s oversized clothes, his hair curling around the edges, framing his face, and a soft flush across his cheeks.

“Hey Neeks, come here sweetheart.” Will murmured.

Nico didn’t hesitate, instead he carefully placed his wet clothes aside and collapsed into Will’s waiting arms, and Will frowned slightly. Normally Nico wasn’t as open about wanting affection around other people, and although he hoped it was that it was because Nico was getting more comfortable around Kayla and Austin, he was also sure that wasn’t the entirety of it.

“What’s going on sweetheart, hmm?”

Nico shook his head, his fingers gripping Will’s shirt tightly.

“It’s okay sweetheart, you can tell me, you’re safe here. Me and Kayla and Austin, we care for you, we just want to help, okay?”

Slowly the son of Hades raised his head and looked at Will, his eyes red rimmed, a few tears slipping out. 

Will cooed softly, wiping away the tears and just holding Nico’s cheeks in his hand. Nico slowly leant into Will’s hand, closing his eyes softly, just appreciating the warmth Will radiated.

“Nico?” Will prompted again.

“The storm scared me.” Nico muttered.

“Hmm? I didn’t hear you sunshine?”

“The storm scared me.” He said a bit louder.

Will was shocked, but he quickly tried to cover it, wrapping his arms tighter around his boyfriend who didn’t seem to mind the attention.

“I’m sorry sunshine. Do you know why? You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

“My Mama...she...Zeus...lightning.” He whispered, his voice shaking as he tried to vocalize what he wanted to say.

“Did Zeus kill your Mom?” Kayla blurted.

Immediately Will and Austin glared at her, and she had the decency to look ashamed, she hadn’t intended to blurt it out so harshly.

“Mmm. Tried to kill me and Bianca too, Hades saved us… but Mama…” Nico whimpered.

Will immediately wrapped his arms tighter around his boyfriend, pressing kisses into his dark hair between whispering soft reassurances to his boyfriend.

“It’s okay Nico, you’re safe here. I’ll keep you safe.” Will murmured to his boyfriend.

Nico just snuggled tighter into Will’s arms.

After a few minutes Nico pulled away, and ducked his head slightly embarrassed.

“Sorry for waking you guys up.” He mumbled.

“We don’t mind.” Austin immediately reassured the son of Hades.

“Yeah, all of us are here if you ever need us.” Kayla agreed.

A few more tears appeared in Nico’s eyes.

“Thanks guys.”

The two children of Apollo just smiled at him, and Will ran his fingers gently through Nico’s hair, making Nico relax against him further.

“Shall we try and get some sleep guys?” Will said after a few moments.

“Mmm, I’m tired.” Kayla whispered, immediately slipping back under her covers.

Will smiled at Nico before gently pushing him into a horizontal position, joining him barely a second later and wrapping his arms around his boyfriend.

“We’ll back you up with Chiron in the morning if he says anything.” Austin called from across the room.

“Thanks guys.”

Austin leant forward, switching the lamp off, and once again the cabin was enclosed in darkness once more.

“Thank you.” Nico breathed to Will in the darkness.

“Any time sunshine.”

Nico snuggled closer, burying his face into Will’s shoulder. Will could feel the soft smile on the son of Hades’ face against it, and he couldn’t help the absolute happiness he felt appear across his face with how comfortable Nico was becoming with him.

Will continued running his fingers through Nico’s hair, and it was only a few minutes later that Nico’s soft breathing reached his ears, and with that, Will closed his eyes, and allowed sleep to take him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos and review if you liked :D


	17. Connor and Travis' Thoughts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's super late, I'm super sleep deprived. This might be deleted in the morning. This one will only be short if I do write it.
> 
> Shall I delete this idek.
> 
> Honestly idek what's going on rn, I should sleep probably but I cannot.
> 
> Disclaimer: There will be typos I'm tired, will likely edit at some point if I don't delete but yeah

It was about half an hour after curfew when Connor and Travis were startled by a knock on the door of the Hermes cabin. Most of the people staying in the cabin were still awake, and neither Stoll brother wanted to force everyone to bed until Nico was back. They could wait a little while. It had been a few hours since the boy had been summoned to the Big House.

As Travis opened the door he was met with the solemn faces of Percy and Annabeth.

"Guys, what's going on?"

"Chiron needs to see you and Connor in the Big House."

"Why?"

Annabeth just shook her head before moving off to the side with a silent, tearful Percy. 

"Connor, did you hear that?"

"Yeah, yeah let me get my jacket."

Travis nodded, and once his younger brother had donned the item, the two boys told the rest of their charges they'd be back soon and to start getting ready for bed before they left the cabin in relative silence.

Neither Connor nor Travis had any idea what was going on and why they were being asked to head to see Chiron, but they were worried. With the looming war any summons to the Big House was worrying. Any summons could be another missing sibling, another dead friend, another shroud to burn. 

Visiting the Big House just wasn't worth it.

"What do you think this is going to be about?" Connor asked as the two headed off, watching Annabeth seemingly comfort Percy out of the corner of his eye.

"Not sure, but we probably need to hurry up. We need to get the younger ones to bed."

"Mmm true. Last I heard Nico was heading to the Big House, maybe Chiron wanted us to bring him back to the cabin?"

Travis just shook his head but didn't justify the question with a response. He couldn't see any reason Chiron would want both of them to get Nico. No, he was sure if it was about Nico, then something had happened on the quest. They'd probably need to keep an eye on him. Travis couldn't help but be worried, in some ways Nico reminded him of a young Connor. He couldn't have imagined leaving Connor if he was given the option like Bianca had, at least without knowing for sure his brother would be safe. Bianca hadn't even made it to camp before becoming a hunter, she'd not even checked where her brother was meant to be living, she'd just chosen to leave at the first opportunity. It wasn't even like Nico was a bad kid, sure he was a little energetic but sweet overall. Yet Bianca had left at the first opportunity. It was no real wonder that Nico clung to anyone who would listen to him, he probably felt abandoned. From the very few slightly confusing stories Travis had got from the kid, Bianca was all he had, all he could ever remember having. 

"Travis?" 

The eldest Stoll brother jumped slightly as his brother's voice cut through his thoughts.

"Sorry Con, what's up?"

"We're here."

"Oh."

Travis couldn't believe how long he'd been lost in thoughts, but that wasn't entirely surprising either. Since becoming joint head counselor and with the war brewing he'd lost himself to his thoughts more often than he liked to admit of late.

Together the two brothers entered the Big House and knocked on the door to the front room before Chiron ushered them into the room.

"Chiron, what's up?" Travis asked.

"Yeah, and where's the kid, I thought he was meant to be here?"

Chiron pinched the space between his eyes tightly before he let out a sigh and moved towards the window, staring out at the swirling snow that was layering the camp in a thick layer of snow. Outside of the camp was sure to be worse, the barrier wouldn't let through enough for it to become an issue, but the night was freezing cold. Connor subconsciously brought his jacket tighter around himself.

"Unfortunately, on the quest there was an incident...and well Mr di Angelo's sister didn't make it." Chiron told them.

The brothers froze. Inwardly they both identified with the siblings. Bianca and Nico had been the only other full siblings they'd met, they could see themselves in the younger unclaimed children, and now one of them was dead. Connor couldn't help but think how much it would hurt for him if Travis died. Sure, before camp they'd had their Mom, but for so many years it had just been them, the thought of one of them dying was painful. They could only imagine the pain Nico was going through.

"Where is he?" Connor asked, his voice slightly shaky.

Travis put a hand on his brother's shoulder.

"Unfortunately after Percy told him... well Nico ran off into the woods. Percy, Annabeth and Grover searched for him but to no avail."

"He's gone?"

"I'm afraid so."

"Surely we need to look for him?! It's freezing out there!" Travis argued.

Chiron held up a hand and Travis wanted to curse at how teacher like the action was. However, he remained quiet, not wanting to anger the centaur.

"I'm afraid it is likely no use. He's been missing for a few hours, wherever he is he's likely long gone."

"But-" Connor began to argue.

Chiron silenced him with a look.

"It is likely Nico will not survive long, better he be eaten by a monster than join Kronos."

"Chiron, it's freezing out there!" Travis protested.

"I am well aware. Unfortunately however it is after curfew and we cannot afford to send search teams out to find Mr di Angelo. I called you here so you'd be aware that he will not be coming back to the cabin."

"His rucksacks in the Hermes cabin." Connor muttered worried.

"Yes. Gather his things and put them aside for now, and recommend no one takes anything. If Mr di Angelo returns he'll want his things, and stealing from a grieving person if he is alive is..."

"We're not heartless Chiron." 

The centaur ducked his head.

"I know. In the next few weeks we'll keep an eye out for Mr di Angelo, but that is the best we can do."

The two Stoll's nodded lightly. They knew he was right, but they were worried. Nico was only ten. Sure they'd come to camp when they were younger, but they'd had each other. Nico was alone in the freezing winters and judging by the conversations they'd had with the boy he was missing crucial information. It didn't add up to good odds on the boy surviving on his own.

Eventually Travis broke the silence.

"Thanks Chiron."

"Goodnight boys."

The two inclined their heads and departed the Big House, shuffling back towards the Hermes cabin. For a while they walked in silence, focusing on their own thoughts and thinking about the bitter cold swirling around them. Nico would be freezing wherever he was.

"Do you think he'll survive?" Connor asked as they came to the circle of cabins.

Travis paused for a second.

"I want to believe so."

Connor nodded, knowing what Travis meant. They wanted him to survive, but the likelihood was that he wouldn't.

As they entered the cabin heads turned to look at them.

"Where's Nico?" Cecil asked quietly.

"He's gone." Connor told their little brother.

"What?"

Travis sighed.

"It's late. We'll talk in the morning, okay?"

Cecil didn't seem pleased by that, but he accepted anyway, and headed towards his bed. As he did so, Travis moved to the bunk Nico'd been staying in and grabbed the rucksack from the foot of the bed. It was surprisingly light, the only things in it were a collection of mythomagic cards and a couple of outfits and a toothbrush. With a sigh, he grabbed the bag and shoved it under his bed. If Nico returned Travis would return it, but for now everyone needed sleep.

"Lights out guys." Connor called.

There was some shuffling before silence fell, and the lights flickered off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Review and kudos maybe idek


	18. Under a roofless sky

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Idk why but I love the idea of Lou Ellen and Nico being friends.
> 
> Yeah, wrote this quickly.

Lou Ellen frowned as she moved further from the porch of the Hecate cabin.

The sun was just beginning to rise, and she was exhausted, she’d spent the night working on more pig balls, and she wanted to quickly grab some breakfast before hiding from Will for the day. The son of Apollo was one of her best friends but he would go off on a tangent about healthy sleep schedules if he was aware she’d pulled another all nighter.

She knew he was right of course, but she’d never give him the satisfaction of admitting it. 

As she moved slightly further, her shoes barely tickling the wet dewy grass before she paused again. Something didn’t feel right. After surviving two wars she had got pretty good at picking up when something was amiss. 

With it being early in the morning there shouldn’t be anyone around, but she felt as if she could feel a presence, someone was somewhere near her, but where?

After a few more moments of casting her eyes around they widened as she realised what she was causing her to feel on edge.

Curled up slightly precariously on the edge of the Hades cabin roof was Nico di Angelo, fast asleep.

She sighed in relief as she realised it was just her friend, they’d got closer since the end of the war with Gaea, but she tensed once more when she realised that if he were to move at all he’d roll right off the roof. Sure, he probably wouldn’t get hurt much, but she didn’t want him to fall.

The daughter of Hecate quickly made her way to the Hades cabin, standing just below the gutter for a moment as she stared up at the slightly younger boy. His hair was toussled as if he’d spent the night tossing and turning, and his eyes were red rimmed and exhausted.

“Nico?” She called quietly up to the boy not wanting to wake anyone else in the nearby cabins.

The son of Hades shuffled slightly, and Lou Ellen held her breath as he shifted slightly closer to the edge of the roof.

“Nico?” She called again.

The boy's face shifted slightly, and his eyelashes fluttered and after a few moments they slowly opened, and with slightly hazy eyes he stared around in confusion.

“Nico, what are you doing on the roof?” Lou Ellen called up to him.

Nico blinked furiously and then peered down at her in confusion.

“Lou Ellen?”

“Morning.” She grinned.

“Morning.” He grumbled slightly.

“Can you come down so we can talk?”

Nico blinked again before he carefully climbed off the roof, shuffling down the drainpipe and landing with a slight, soft thud next to the smiling girl.

“Hi.”

“Hi. Are you doing okay?”

“Mmm.”

For a few moments the two remained in silence before Nico sighed.

“I had a nightmare last night and I just...I just felt better outside, I didn’t want to be trapped and alone, you know? Being outside helped.”

Lou Ellen nodded reassuringly. She knew about Nico’s time in the bronze jar when he’d been captured by the giants. She was kind of proud of the fact that he’d told her, that he’d trusted her enough to open up to her. She would never betray his trust.

“Hmm, how long did you end up sleeping for Neeks?”

He scowled at the nickname, but she knew he didn’t mind really, he’d secretly confessed it to her a few months prior while tired that he liked it, it made him feel slightly warm and accepted. He’d also argued he’d never publicly agree with the name, but Lou Ellen took that as a sign that calling him Neeks was okay.

“I don’t know, I probably had three or four hours all in all, but, you know, not continuously.”

“Mmm. Would sleeping near someone help do you think?”

The son of Hades played with the ring on his finger for a moment, twisting it twice before he turned to look at her once more.

“I think so.”

“I was going to grab some breakfast quickly and then head to bed, want to come and take a nap in the Hecate cabin?”

“Please.”

It wasn’t the first time the two had napped together. Both demigods had sometimes struggled because of who their parents are and they’d bonded over that. Sometimes that bonding had continued late into the night and they’d ended up passing out together in either the Hades or the Hecate cabin.

“Come on then. Wait, actually leave a note for Will first. He’ll freak if he can’t find you whenever he tries to wake you up.”

“Mmm, alright.”

Nico disappeared into his cabin for a minute or two before he returned, sticking a note to the door to his cabin before the two slinked off together to the dining pavilion, grabbing some toast each, sacrificing some to their parents before making their way back to the Hecate cabin, and sitting together on the floor as they ate.

“Why were you up all night?” Nico asked after swallowing a bite.

“Making more pig balls, I want some for the next capture the flag, but also thought it best to have some back ups. Just in case.”

“Mmm, yeah I won’t tell Will.”

“Literal lifesaver. If I have to hear another thing about needing sleep as a growing teenager… well I’m sure Will would look sweet as a piglet.”

Nico snorted.

As the two finished eating, Lou Ellen got into her bed, discarding her covers to the floor with the heat, and opening her arms to the son of Hades.

“Come here Neeks.”

He looked at her for a moment as if seeing if she was really okay with it.

“You sure?”

“Of course I am doofus. You act like this is the first time we’ve snuggled. Get in here.”

Nico beamed, and carefully shifted next to her in the bed, curling up in her arms. Lou Ellen sent out a silent prayer to Hypnos that they’d have peaceful dreams.

“Thanks Lou.”

“No problem Neeks, now sleep.”

With that, silence fell in the Hecate cabin, and within minutes both demigods were asleep.

* * *

Will smiled as he read the note on the Hades cabin door and he quickly made his way to the Hecate cabin, slipping the note into his pocket with a grin on his face.

_Love Nico._

Sure, they’d said love you before, but Nico was slowly getting more comfortable saying it openly. Anyone could have seen that note, and if Nico was okay with people being able to see it, it meant Nico was getting comfortable faster than Will had expected him to. He was proud of his boyfriend.

As he reached the Hecate cabin he pressed his ear to the door checking to see if they were awake. They’d asked him to do so after he’d woken them once in the middle of the day after knocking loudly on the door, startling them and leading to Lou Ellen smacking her head on the bunk above her bed. Now he listened to check before knocking to save her from further injuries.

When no sound came from behind the door he gently opened it, peering around the edge.

As he saw his boyfriend and one of his best friends a huge beam broke across his face. The two were curled up together tightly in sleep. Both their faces were completely free of stress, and absently Will was reminded of Nico’s surname, di Angelo, it really made sense normally, but when Nico was asleep it was uncanny.

For a moment Will stood there appreciating the peace radiating from the usually chaotic Hecate cabin before he gently closed the door behind him so he could head back to the Apollo cabin. Someone needed to make sure Kayla and Austin got up and ate their breakfast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos if you liked and leave a review, makes my day :)
> 
> GUESS WHO DISCOVERED HOW TO DO LINEBREAKS. -though I will probz forget to change the PJOHOOTOA to them a lot cos google docs.


	19. Will's Thoughts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written quickly.

The first time Will Solace had properly seen Nico di Angelo was outside the dining pavilion talking to Travis and Connor Stoll. The boy looked to be around a year younger than Will himself, and he practically bounced where he stood while he told the older boys about a game he played. His enthusiasm was catchy, and his hands flapped with excitement as he spoke. Will wished he’d been nearby earlier so he could hear the game he was talking about. 

“Will, are you coming?” His older brother Lee asked.

“Yeah, sorry, I’m coming.”

As Will followed his brother into the dining pavilion he briefly wondered if perhaps he could talk to Nico the following day. It had been a busy day with it being the winter solstice, so everyone would be in bed early, but tomorrow he’d hopefully get the chance to talk to him.

After sacrificing some food, Will absently ate, discreetly looking at the newest member of the Hades cabin. Nico had been at the camp for about a week, but Will had unfortunately been caught up training with Lee in the infirmary, trying to cultivate his healing powers as best as he could. As Will looked at the boy he noted his naturally tanned cheeks slightly flushed with the cold, his hair in slightly soft curls framing his face gently, his brown eyes eager, shining as he talked and gestured around wildly. He was adorable.

“Will, are you paying attention at all?” Lee asked from beside him.

“I am.”

Lee peered down at him raising an eyebrow slightly, and Will pouted. There’s no way Lee was even close to believing him.

“What were you looking at? The new boy? Nico?”

“Yeah, I was just… thinking.”

“Mmm, maybe you can meet him tomorrow or something hmm? I know there’s not many people your age here, everyone’s at least two years older than you for the most part.”

“Yeah, why is that?”

“Most people don’t come to camp until they’re thirteen as that’s when most of us start attracting monsters. A few people come before thirteen, like Annabeth and the Stolls, but yeah thirteen’s the base age really. It’s been a while since we had many younger than thirteen, probably not since Percy a couple of summers ago, and he was close to thirteen anyway. You were the most recent under thirteen, well until Nico I guess.”

“Do you know how old he is?”

“Mmm, yeah, he’s ten. Travis and Connor came to talk to me about it, they were worried because he’s so young and his sister joined the hunters.”

“Oh.”

“I think he’d appreciate a friend his age though.”

“Yeah, I’ll go to the Hermes cabin tomorrow and ask.”

Lee ruffled his brother’s hair before encouraging him to continue eating and join the conversation they were having with Michael.

PJOHOOTOA.

The following morning after an early breakfast Will knocked lightly on the door to the Hermes cabin, and beamed at the exhausted Travis who answered the door.

“Will? It’s early, what do you want?”

“Er, sorry. I was wondering if your new camper, Nico was here, I wanted to talk to him.”

Travis’s face fell, and Will felt his heart sink slightly.

“I’m sorry kid, he left.”

“What?”

“Er his sister died, the hunter and he ran away when Percy told him.”

“Oh.”

“Sorry Will.”

“It’s okay, sorry for disturbing you.”

“It’s okay, hopefully he’ll reappear.” Travis said with a soft smile.

“Yeah, thanks anyway.”

Without another word Will slunk back towards the Apollo cabin, his mind lost in thought. Nico had looked so happy only twelve hours earlier, and since then the poor boy’s world had likely crashed down upon him and he’d fled. Will just hoped he’d be okay.

“You okay Will?” Lee asked as he entered the Apollo cabin.

“Nico ran away last night.”

Lee frowned but didn’t say anything as Will slumped on his bed, lost in thought.

* * *

The next time Will saw Nico had been during the battle in which Lee had died.

As he first laid his eyes on the boy it took him a moment to recogise him. Nico’s hair had grown longer, his skin had paled slightly and his eyes looked broken, the excitement had died in them. That had barely caught Will’s attention though, instead he couldn’t help but stare at how thin and exhausted the slightly younger boy looked. His face was significantly thinner than it had been before, and Will’s heart clenched as he was briefly led down the hole of wondering when Nico had last eaten a full meal.

He knew from Percy and Annabeth that Nico didn’t have a living mortal parent and he wasn’t living at camp, so Will could guess it wasn’t likely that he had access to full meals, or a bed which would explain the bags under his eyes that made him look slightly haunted.

However, Will managed to reassure himself that Nico was back at camp, and once the battle was over he’d be able to help the boy, and hopefully then he could befriend him.

* * *

It was three days after the battle that Will managed to leave the infirmary for the first time. Since Lee had died in the battle, Will had become the head healer while Michael had become head of the cabin. Michael didn’t possess the ability to heal very well at all, nor did he have the patience for it, so Will and his new sister Kayla who’d arrived earlier in the summer did most of the work. It took three days, but finally the infirmary was cleared, the two young healers had slept, and it was a new day.

Despite the grief flowing through Will at the loss of Lee, he tried to bury it down. After everyone had been stabilised in the infirmary he’d wept for an hour in the supply closet, before he’d been overloaded with work again, but now the infirmary was clear and he was on a mission. He’d seen Nico collapse after the battle, but the boy had never been brought to him, he needed to rectify that.

“Good morning Will, is the infirmary clear now?” Chiron asked from the front porch where he was sitting healing up.

“Yeah, everyone’s healed, but there is someone I need to check on.”

“Oh, who’s that?”

“Nico didn’t come to the infirmary, but I know he collapsed at the end of the battle.”

“Ah.” The centaur murmured.

“Chiron?”

“Mr di Angelo left last night.”

“What?!”

“I’m sorry. He left after briefly speaking with Percy.”

Will sighed, sitting down on the steps to the Big House.

“Will?”

“Did you see him when he was here?”

“I did.” The centaur said slowly.

“He didn’t look well Chiron. I was hoping he’d stay and he’d get better.”

The centaur sighed.

“I did notice he looked unwell. I also noticed while he was here he didn’t eat anything, even though we invited him to sit at the head table and he was invited to the Hermes table too.”

“He didn’t even eat!”

“I’m afraid not.”

Will sighed. 

“I’m just worried, he didn’t look well, and I don’t know… I just feel like I need to help him, but he’s not even here. I don’t know why I feel so compelled to him specifically, but…”

Chiron frowned slightly before there was a slight glint in his eye but the centaur didn’t expand, so Will knew he was unwilling to do so.

“Hopefully in time Nico will come to camp again and we can help him then, but until then we will just have to hope he is okay.”

“Yeah, I guess. Thanks Chiron.”

The centaur smiled, and with that Will slipped away.

* * *

The third time was during the battle of Manhattan. He’d briefly seen the boy appear on the back of the hellhound Mrs O’Learly joined by Hades, Persephone and Demeter, as well as legions of the dead. It had been an extremely impressive sight.

Nico however had paled even more, the bags had returned, and he looked ill. He was still as skinny as he’d been the previous summer, perhaps a little more so, but at first he’d only seen him from afar so he hadn’t been able to tell completely. He’d reassured himself that hopefully he’d get to give him a check up once everyone was back at camp.

He’d seen Nico once at the camp after everyone had returned but Will had been claimed by the infirmary, the injuries had been more substantial than during the battle of Manhattan, and he’d barely been able to leave, and with the addition of his new head councilor duties, he’d been overrun and overworked. 

It had taken him a week to have any free time, and by the time he managed, news had swept around the camp of how Nico had disappeared, the plans for the outside of the Hades cabin remaining, but no sign of the boy.

Will wanted to scream.

* * *

He’d heard the son of Hades had turned up once to speak to Annabeth once Percy had disappeared to let Annabeth know he’d aid in the search. Will hadn’t seen him, but from what he’d heard from Mitchell in the Aphrodite cabin, he’d been wearing the exact same clothes he’d been wearing during the battle of Manhattan, and he didn’t look well.

If other people were beginning to notice how unwell the son of Hades looked it wasn’t a good sign.

However after the meeting with Annabeth Nico had left again, and no one had heard from him since.

Will wanted to scream.

* * *

Nico had appeared from the shadows on Half Blood Hill, and Will wanted to scream.

If he hadn’t seen the boy move he’d have assumed Nico was a corpse. His skin was so pale that he looked as if he had died, his clothes, one of which was a hawaain shirt, hung off his frame, and he looked as if he’d been starved. His hair hung limply around his face and his eyes were broken.

He’d never seen eyes so empty. 

Nico looked like a prisoner of war. 

Will wondered briefly where Nico had been. Had he been a prisoner of war?

“Will?” Lou Ellen whispered in his ear.

The son of Apollo ignored her.

“Nico?” He called.

He ducked to avoid the blade that swung towards him, but as soon as he rose and looked at Nico face on he wanted to vomit. Nico was so ashen. He was sure without a doubt that if Nico left camp again, he’d not survive. If he wanted Nico to stay at camp he needed to persuade him before the battle or he’d never see him again.

The two argued slightly, and Will could feel Lou Ellen and Cecil’s eyes burning into his back but he ignored them. All he could think of was that he needed to touch Nico’s hand, he needed to see how bad it really was.

When he finally touched Nico’s hand, the world spun for a moment. It was so much worse than he’d imagined. So so much worse. 

Nico needed to rest his powers or he’d die.

Nico needed to stay at camp, and this time Will was not going to let him get away again especially not without medical help. But first he had to get through the battle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos and review if you like :)


	20. Asking Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Idek

Will sighed loudly as he collapsed on his bed in the Apollo cabin, making his siblings Kayla and Austin who'd been having a conversation across the room turn to look at him at his dramatics.

"Is this about Nico again?" Kayla asked rolling her eyes at her brother's exaggerated actions.

"Oh, one hundred percent it is." Austin put in before Will even had the chance to say anything.

Will sat up from his bed for a second, turning to glare at his siblings in turn. Neither of them looked entirely remorseful. Gods, he loved his siblings, but why on earth wouldn't they just let him be overly dramatic in peace.

"Okay, first off, rude, both of you. You both suck. Also it is about Nico, but I can't help it, he's so...ugh." He cried dramatically falling against his bed once more, burying his face into his sheets.

Kayla snorted, and Will shuffled up once more to glare at her. She just raised an eyebrow in challenge, but Will wasn't in the mood to fake argue with his sister.

"What's the matter this time Will?" Austin said, moving to sit on the end of Will's bed.

Mentally Will decided Austin was his favourite sibling, although he knew that wasn't true. He adored his siblings, both of his year round siblings were great in equal measure. Austin was easier to talk to, although Kayla could be serious and comforting if the situation called for it.

"He's so amazing." Will finally groaned.

"Hmm?" Austin prompted.

"Don't encourage him Austin." Kayla called over her shoulder as she moved to tighten the strings of her bow over in the corner of the room.

"Go on Will, you can rant if you want." Austin encouraged.

"Thank you Austin, you're the best." Will muttered, glaring playfully over in Kayla's direction.

The daughter of Apollo just stuck her tongue out in response to her brother turning her attention entirely to her bow.

"Nico's so perfect. It's so frustrating, every time we hang out I get so close to blurting out how much I like him. Like when he laughs at something he's so cute, his face scrunches up, and he curls slightly in on himself, especially when we're sat down. Gods, every time he laughs my heart like goes crazy. He's so cute and he's like seriously beautiful." The eldest blurted, his hands flapping around him as he gesticulated wildly.

"We can see who got the poetry gene from Dad." Kayla laughed from the corner.

Will didn't justify that with a response.

"Why don't you just ask him out? I mean since the end of the war four months ago you've been pining like crazy." Austin advised.

"I can't! Everyone says he had a crush on Annabeth." Will whined.

Gods more than anything he wanted to ask Nico out. The idea of the son of Hades being his boyfriend was overwhelming, and more than anything he wanted it. But if it meant he'd ruin his friendship with the boy, he'd rather die. He'd rather live his life with Nico in it as his friend that ruin it for the slight chance of a relationship.

"Oh my gods, you're so dense William." Kayla groaned.

"No I'm not!" He immediately protested.

"Plus, just because he liked a girl doesn't mean he's straight. He could be bisexual, or pansexual, or demisexual or..." Austin informed him before Kayla cut him off.

"Nico likes you too, it's so obvious. Literally everyone at the camp knows you two like each other, apparently excluding the two of you."

"No it's not, Nico doesn't like me like that, I'm sure of it. Out of curiousity though, how is it obvious? He just talks to me like normal."

Kayla rolled her eyes.

"Just trust me on this one." She said, not bothering to expand on it.

Will shook his head. 

"I can't. What if I say something and he doesn't like me back, and he gets uncomfortable, I mean he's from the thirties. What if I make him so uncomfortable that he leaves forever and I never see him again?! It'll ruin our friendship." Will cried dramatically, flopping down against his bed again and burying his face in his pillow.

Austin rubbed his back soothingly.

"Well, you've got to do something, you're going insane."

"What if Nico hates me though? I don't want him to hate me." Will whined. 

"Why would I hate you?"

In unison the three children of Apollo turned to the open door of their cabin, and they all looked slightly shocked as they saw the son of Hades in the doorway, the sun reflecting around him. Will quickly turned to look at Austin who shrugged, pulling a face. Will sighed, his brother was going to be no use getting him out of this one.

He didn't even bother looking at Kayla, she was the main proponent for him admitting his adoration for the son of Hades. 

"Nico! How long have you been standing there?" Will asked frantically.

"Like two seconds? But don't change the topic, why would I hate you?"

Will turned to look at Kayla in desperation.

"Just tell him." Kayla muttered.

"Tell me what?"

Austin stood from the end of Will's bed, rushing to the corner and dragging a protesting Kayla after him and out of the door. As the door slammed behind them, Will turned to look at Nico, his cheeks very red. The son of Hades just looked extremely confused. Will couldn't exactly blame him.

"Will, what's going on?" Nico inquired, his voice surprisingly soft.

Will moved to sit against his pillows.

"Er..."

"You know I'm not good at emotions and stuff, but I won't hate you for whatever it is. We're friends, you can tell me." Nico said slowly, fiddling with his skull ring as he spoke.

Will sighed and silence fell through the room. 

Will was so conflicted, he wanted to confess how much he liked Nico, he wanted to scream it from the rooftops, but he also didn't want to lose their friendship. In the months since the war Nico had become one of his closest friends, and the idea of losing it made him want to cry. Unfortunately his romantic feelings for the slightly younger, but also technically older, boy made it hard.

After a few minutes the silence was beginning to get awkward, and Will sighed once more.

"I have a huge crush on you." Will finally murmured.

Silence fell across the room for a brief moment.

"What?" Nico finally uttered.

"I'm sorry. I know you're straight and you liked Annabeth, and you'd never be interested in me or anything, but I can't help it, and gods I hope you're not homophobic, and I understand that you don't like me like that, but I still really want to be your friend and-"

Will's stream of words was stopped by Nico's, surprisingly cold, fingers being pressed to his lips. Will wasn't even sure when the boy had moved towards the bed, but he was now sitting beside Will. For a moment Will began wondering why exactly the son of Hades was so cold, was it something to do with Hades? However, he quickly shoved it aside, although he knew he'd returned to it later. What if it was a medical issue?

"Will?" Nico murmured.

The son of Apollo lifted his head, and his eyes met the extremely red, flustered face of Nico di Angelo.

"I er... I like you too." He murmured, getting impossibly redder.

"You do?"

"Yeah." He breathed.

Will just stared at him for a moment. 

"Er... can I hug you?" He finally asked.

"Yeah, sure yeah." Nico muttered hurriedly, looking extremely flustered.

How was it possible for someone to even go that red?

Will carefully wrapped his arms around the son of Hades, and his heart fluttered as he felt the usually tense boy relax in his hold.

"This is nice." Nico admitted quietly.

"Yeah, I really like it."

The two were silent for a while just enjoying being wrapped up together listening to the sounds coming from outside the cabin peacefully before Will turned to look down at Nico again.

"Wait, what about your crush on Annabeth?"

Nico snorted violently, moving to look Will in the eyes.

"I've no interest in women Will, never have."

"Wait so your crush...?"

"I had a crush on Percy, not any time recently, not for like a year at least, but yeah..." Nico begrudgingly admitted.

Will's eyes widened. He thought back to all the times Nico had randomly turned up at camp since he'd run off the first time. Every time had been for Percy, although with Annabeth there everyone had for some reason assumed he'd had a crush on the girl. Damn stupid heteronormativity. They were the children of Greek gods for Hades' sake!

"Oh my gods, that makes so much sense." Will whispered.

Nico shoved him slightly from where he was still wrapped in Will's arms.

"Does that mean you want to go out with me? Like be boyfriends?" Will asked.

"I do, but..."

"But?" Will asked, his heart sinking slightly.

"Can we call it something else for now? I just... I'm not comfortable with that term yet."

Will nodded frantically. It made complete sense, Nico was from Italy in the nineteen thirties, he would have been killed for having a boyfriend. The boy was likely trying to overcome years of internalised homophobia.

"Sure! Sure, yeah, we'll come up with something. Significant other or something." Will told him eagerly.

Nico rolled his eyes but didn't respond.

"Good." The son of Hades finally said.

"Good." Will responded.

"Good." A voice called from outside the cabin.

"KAYLA!" Will cried.

"Sorry!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Review if you liked I guess.


	21. Anger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AU 
> 
> OOC character probz too
> 
> I'm not sure if this fits in with the rest of the drabbles in this series which pretty much take place in the sort of same timeline, you know. This doesn't fit. However, there's a chance it could if I wrote more. Idk.
> 
> Also please no one come for me in the comments about this one.
> 
> Character's opinions etc... are not necessarily my own. Don't say harsh stuff in the comments either way, I will just delete them.

“Hey Nico, can we talk?” Percy asked the son of Hades as he approached him from behind as the younger boy sliced at the dummies in the training arena, his sword slashing through the air with frantic precision as he moved.

“No.” Nico immediately responded.

Percy sighed. He had a feeling that Nico wouldn’t talk to him, but he needed to. He needed to talk about what Nico had admitted to him a week prior before he’d been dragged into the infirmary by Will Solace.

“Come on Nico, I just want to ask-”

“To be honest Percy, I don’t really care what you want to ask.”

Percy sighed.

“Nico, I know you don’t like talking about feelings-”

“Percy, I am busy. I do not want to talk to you. Leave me alone.” He hissed, slashing at the dummy harder than before. Percy wasn’t entirely sure how the son of Hades was putting that much power into his actions, he still looked too weak to even have that much energy, and Percy lost himself falling down that rabbit hole for a few moments.

“Nico, please, we need to discuss this.”

“We don’t need to discuss anything, leave me alone.”

“Nico-”

“PERCY LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE.” The younger boy yelled, swirling around pointing his stygian iron sword at the son of Poseidon.

Percy backed up slightly.

“Fine, fine, but we need to discuss this at some point.”

“No we don’t. Leave me alone.”

“But-”

“Percy this has nothing to do with you, back the fuck off.”

The son of Poseidon sighed, but slipped out of the arena. He’d never actually heard the son of Hades swear, likely because he was from the thirties, and for him to use two expletives within moments of each other wasn’t a good sign.

“Did you talk to him?” Annabeth asked softly, running her fingers through his hair gently and pressing a kiss to his cheek.

“No, er… he told me to fuck off.”

Annabeth raised an eyebrow in slight shock. Despite his outward demenaor, Nico more often than not was overly polite unless it was to a monster or someone who really deserved it. He was just as surprised as she was.

“Maybe try again tomorrow, I’m sure he’ll be in a better mood then.” Annabeth advised quitely.

“Yeah, yeah. Sure.”

PJOHOOTOA.

Percy decided to approach the son of Hades as he slunk off after breakfast, disappearing into the woods alone. He had briefly debated waiting until the son of Hades was in a more populated area, the kid scared him slightly, but he doubted Nico would hurt him. 

He trusted him enough for that.

It only took a few moments of Percy following Nico into the woods before he lost him, and for a moment the son of Poseidon sighed. Clearly Nico had shadow travelled away, so as he turned to head towards the common areas once more, he froze as he saw Nico’s sword once again pointing in his direction.

“Why are you following me?” The son of Hades hissed.

“Why are you pointing your sword at me… again?”

Nico’s eyes flashed and for a brief moment Percy considered reaching into his pocket and drawing out Riptide before he decided against it. He’d known Nico for four years, he was sure the boy wouldn’t hurt him, at least not purposefully.

“I will repeat my question, why are you following me?”

“We need to talk.”

“About what Percy?! What on earth could we possibly have to talk about?!”

“Dude why are you getting so angry?”

Anger seemed to sizzle from the son of Hades, and Percy took a slight step back.

“It’s nothing to do with you. Now tell me why the fuck you’ve been following me for the past two days. We. Have. Nothing. To. Talk. About.” He hissed.

“We do, you can’t just drop something like that and then walk away no questions asked.”

“I don’t owe you anything.” Nico muttered, his hand clenching around his sword.

“But-”

“Percy! Get it through your thick skull! Whatever you want to talk about? It’s not happening. We’re not friends, I don’t owe you anything. Now leave me the fuck alone.”

“Come on Nico, you know we’re friends.”

“I don’t consider you my friend.” Nico said easily, and something sank in Percy’s stomach.

“You don’t consider us friends?”

“No.”

“But after everything we’ve done together-”

“Eveything we’ve done together? Percy you must be joking. For years I’ve done shit to help you out, putting my life and sanity at risk time and time again to help you save the fucking world. That’s over, I’ve done everything I can. Sure we had a kind of tit for tat thing going, but we’re equal now, we’re done speaking. Now leave me alone!”

Percy sighed.

“I know you’ve done a lot for me but with everything settled now, we could be friends properly, you know?”

“I don’t want to be your friend. After everything I’ve been through for your sake, and sometimes for my own stupidity… I don’t think we’ll ever be friends, Percy. You saved me from the jar, I brought everyone to the House of Hades. We’re done, ally ship over. We’re not at war anymore so we don’t have anything to say to each other.”

“Nico, you’ve got to be kidding, we’ve been friends for years, surely-”

Anger seemed to burst from the very cells of Nico.

“WE’VE NEVER BEEN FRIENDS. NEVER. AND YOU KNOW WHAT, I’VE COME TO ACCEPT THAT. I’VE COME TO ACCEPT THAT EVEN AFTER EVERYTHING I DID TO TRY AND HELP OUT, YOU AND YOUR FUCKING BAND OF MISFITS NEVER TRUSTED ME. FOR YEARS YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS CONTRIBUTED TO MY FUCKING OUSTRACISATION FROM THIS CAMP. WE WERE NEVER FRIENDS. IF YOUR FRIENDS WERE SLEEPING IN A FUCKING LABYRINTH OR IN A FUCKING ALLEY STARVING TO DEATH FOR YEARS ON END BY THEMSELVES, YOU’D FUCKING CARE. YOU NEVER CARED, SO DON’T COME OVER HERE AND ACT LIKE WE’RE FRIENDS. WE ARE NOT.”

“Nico.”

“NO! FOR YEARS I DID NOTHING BUT SACRIFICE MYSELF FOR OTHER PEOPLE. I TRAVELLED ACROSS THE FUCKING WORLD, NEARLY KILLING MYSELF WITH THE FUCKING STATUE FOR WEEKS TO TRY AND SAVE THIS FUCKING CAMP. I WENT TO TARTARUS, I WENT TO FUCKING HELL, TO TRY AND FIND THE DOORS OF DEATH FOR YOUR FUCKING PROPHECY. I FACED MY FATHER’S ABUSE TO BRING HIM TO THE BATTLE IN MANHATTAN. I LITERALLY HAVE NOTHING LEFT PERCY.”

“Nico.” Percy murmured again.

“NO. JUST FUCKING LEAVE ME ALONE.”

“What? So you’re going to leave camp then? And what, disappear like you said you would to Jason? What about Hazel huh? Don’t you think your sister would want to know where you are? Are you that heartless that-”

Nico pushed his sword to Percy’s throat, and the older boy froze.

“Don’t you dare say I don’t care about Hazel. You know for a fucking fact I’d destroy myself to save my sister, and I’ve nearly done it various times. Hazel is the only person I have left in this world, the only person I’d do anything for. After everything I’ve done for people, after everything I’ve given up, all the sacrifices I’ve made, and you call me heartless.”

“Nico, I… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-”

“Don’t say another fucking word Perseus Jackson. Not another word.”

Percy gulped but nodded the best he could with a sword pressed tightly to his throat.

“Good. Now leave me alone.” He muttered, the anger seeming to fizzle away, leaving only depression and sadness remaining.

“Maybe try and focus on the things that make you happy.” Percy advised softly. He knew he was treading a dangerous line, and once he saw anger flare in Nico’s eyes once more, he instantly regretted.

“Things that make me happy. Things that make me happy?!”

“Nico, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t-”

“Go on Percy, if we were ever such good friends, name something that would make me happy. Name something, anything that I have left apart from Hazel that you make me happy. Huh?! Huh?!”

Percy gulped as he realised off the top of his head he couldn’t think of anything.

“Mythomagic?” He offered weakly.

“You think mythomagic makes me happy? YOU THINK AFTER MY SISTER DIED FOR A FUCKING FIGURINE THAT IT COULD POSSIBLY MAKE ME HAPPY. NOTHING MAKES MY HAPPY PERCY, THAT’S WHY I’M LIKE THIS. I WAS ALREADY FUCKING DEPRESSED BEFORE I FELL INTO TARTARUS, AND NOW…. NOW I’M THIS. NOTHING MAKES ME HAPPY, AND YOU KNOW WHAT I DON’T THINK ANYTHING WILL EVER MAKE ME HAPPY. MY MIND IS FUCKING BROKEN, I STARED DEEP INTO THE PITS OF TARTARUS WITH NOTHING PROTECTING ME. YOU THINK I KNOW WHAT MAKES ME HAPPY, DO YOU THINK I COULD POSSIBLY BE HAPPY? AFTER EVERYTHING...AFTER EVERYTHING I-” Nico broke off, and to his horror Percy realised the younger boy seemed on the verge of sobbing.

The son of Hades lowered his sword slightly, and Percy shifted closed.

“Nico, it’s okay. There’s people that can help you know, like-”

Nico raised his sword again, pointing it in Percy’s face. 

“Stay away from me Jackson.” He spat, before he disappeared into shadows.

PJOHOOTOA.

Kayla screamed as the flickering form of Nico di Angelo appeared next to the hearth in the middle of camp.

“Nico!” A voice yelled, slightly horrified, and Kayla frowned as she saw a young girl crouch easily down by the son of Hades. The girl’s face was pale as she looked at the boy, and her red eyes seemed to be full of tears.

“SOMEONE GET WILL!” Kayla screamed as she snapped out of it, launching herself in the direction of the older boy.

She could hear people scrambling, but she paid them no attention instead frantically beginning healing hymns, her hands spread out in front of her. After a few seconds, another voice joined her, and without looking up she knew it was Austin.

“Will’s coming!” Someone shouted from behind her, but she didn’t lose her focus.

She sang as if her life depended on it, even though it was not her own life at stake, and Austin did too, both of them chanting and singing together, touching the few parts of Nico that hadn’t turned into shadow.

After a few minutes they were joined by a frantic Will who joined them quickly, their voices harmonizing despite the fact the eldest son of Apollo at camp wasn’t necessarily the best singer, especially amongst the other Apollo campers.

It took a while but it finally seemed it was working, and Nico seemed fairly stable, so Kayla looked over at her brother, and her mouth fell open.

“Will, you’re glowing.”

“What?” Austin whispered as he too turned to look at his brother.

Will was omitting a glowing butterly yellow light, his skin shining as he remained focused on the son of Hades in front of him.

“We need to get him to the infirmary.”

“But Will, you’re glowing!”

“Kayla, now isn’t the time. We need to do this first.”

The daugher of Apollo blinked frantically for a second.

“You’re right. Sorry.”

Will just nodded, slinging the now stable, but unconscious son of Hades over his shoulder and rushing him back to the infirmary.

PJOHOOTOA.

The children of Apollo ended up having to surround the son of Hades with sunlamps to try and keep him solid, and even after three days he hadn’t awoken, and as the days progressed, the angrier Will found himself getting.

Nico knew he’d been banned from shadow travel, Will had made that abundantly clear when the boy had spent three days in the infirmary, and yet the son of Hades had gone back on that within days of being released. Nico knew the consequences, he knew the likelihood was that he would die, so why had he possibly done it?

It wasn’t until four days after the accident, or at least Will hoped it was an accident, that Percy was shoved into the infirmary by Annabeth. The daughter of Athena seemed angry, but sadness also oozed from her.

“Percy, Annabeth.” The son of Apollo said stiffly. 

Will was exhausted, and as neither seemed injured he couldn’t understand why they were disturbing him. The only person left in the infirmary was Nico, and he wasn’t showing any signs of waking up.

“Will, I… I need to apologise.”

“What did you do?” He immediately asked, whipping around to stare them dead in their eyes.

“I- I was the one who pushed Nico to shadow travel. Not purposefully or anything, but-”

“What did you do?” Will immediately repeated.

“I kept trying to talk to him about-”

Annabeth nudged him violently.

“- something.” The son of Poseidon finished.

“And?”

“Well, I said we were friends, and well… he lost it. Likely I’ve never seen him as angry as he was, even after Bianca… anyway he kept yelling and I said something I shouldn’t have and then he tried to shadow travel.”

“What did you say?”

Percy looked down, and Will could almost feel the guilt radiating from his every pore.

“What did you say?” Will repeated.

“I called him heartless. I accused him of not caring about people, not caring about Hazel.”

Annabeth whipped around and stared at her boyfriend in horror.

“Percy!”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it! It was just the heat of the moment. I didn’t know how badly he’d get hurt if he shadow travelled.”

Will was silent for a few moments.

“Percy, do you want to know what happened when Nico got the Athena Parthonos to camp?”

“What?”

“Nico managed to get to the top of Half Blood Hill, and he was going to shadow travel again. He knew if he did it he’d die. His Dad had told him he would, and I’m sure he could feel it. He was going to do it anyway, he was going to do it to protect the camp, to try and stop a war. He travelled thousands of miles across the globe to do that, he knew he wouldn’t survive, and if Lou, Cecil and I weren’t on the top of that hill, he wouldn’t have.”

“Oh.”

“Gods.” Annabeth whispered.

“You two have known him longer than I have, you’ve interacted with him more than any living person probably. You know everything he’s done for this camp despite not feeling like he belonged here. Hell, think of all the thing’s he’s done for the world. He’s done properly as much as you two have, time and time again.”

“We know.”

“And you must have been able to tell his mental health wasn’t good.”

“We’d guessed.”

“So, stop me if I’m wrong, cornering him, screaming at him and calling him heartless, I don’t know...DOESN’T SEEM LIKE A GOOD IDEA?”

“He’s right Seaweed Brain.” Annabeth murmured.

“Get out of my infirmary.” Will hissed.

“But-!”

“No, get out. Just get out. Oh, and Percy?”

“Yeah.”

“For Nico’s health and wellbeing you’re not to interact with him until he says it’s okay for you to do so. Do I make myself clear?”

“But-”

Annabeth elbowed him.

“Yes, you made yourself very clear.”

“Good, now get out and don’t come back unless you’re injured.”

“Right, sorry Will.” Percy muttered.

Annabeth just inclined her head slightly, and the two disappeared from the infirmary, and once they did, Will collapsed exhausted in the chair by Nico’s bed. As he ran his eyes over the boy he sighed.

“We’ll find you some help Nico, whether you think you need it or not, we’ll get you some help.”


	22. Bad Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been a few days, I had a group project due in earlier today and I was focusing on that as it counts towards my grade. It was especially difficult as we did the entire thing over zoom. But we did it, and who knows how well it went. It was a new section of the course, so they'd never done it before and there were no examples.

“Nico?” Will murmured as he woke and noticed his husband staring blankly at the wall opposite, his knees to his chest with arms wrapped around himself and tears rolling down his cheeks.

Nico grunted slightly, a sign he’d heard, and Will sighed softly, moving to run his fingers through his husband’s tangled black hair. It seemed Nico hadn’t showered when he’d got home the night before, Will hadn’t realised after his night shift.

“How are you feeling sunshine?” Will asked gently.

His husband grunted again and Will sighed when he realised Nico wasn’t going to be able to talk. Sometimes when Nico had bad days he couldn’t speak, no matter what he tried. He’d once described it as if his voice had physically left him, he couldn’t force himself to vocalize his words. Luckily Will knew his husband well enough to know exactly what was happening.

“Not a good day today, huh sweetheart?”

His husband grunted again.

“That’s okay, it’s okay darling.” Will whispered gently in Nico’s ear.

More tears flowed freely down Nico’s face, dripping onto the loose t-shirt the man was wearing. Will absently noticed it was one of his old ones, which explained why it was big on Nico. Will was taller than his husband, ridiculously tall according to Nico, but it was clear the son of Hades liked the upsides. On days where he was feeling bad and Will was at work the son of Hades would don one of his t-shirts, he claimed they smelled of Will and made him feel safe. Will really liked that.

“Do you think you can eat or drink anything sweetheart?” Will said gently as he moved his hand to Nico’s back.

Nico was silent for a minute as if waiting for the question to find its way through the fog he was engulfed in.

The son of Hades shook his head.

“Okay sweetheart, okay.”

For a minute Will rested his hand on Nico’s back, carefully checking his state. He sighed as he noticed the extreme fatigue radiating from his husband as well as the pounding of his heart, although luckily it wasn’t so fast to indicate a panic attack.

“Did you not sleep well darlin’?”

After a moment Nico shrugged.

“Okay, do you want to go back to sleep? I can ring in your work for you?”

More tears flowed.

“I know sweetheart, I know, but it’s okay. You know they won’t mind, they just want you to be okay.”

Silence fell again apart from the slight hitches in Nico’s breathing before the son of Hades nodded jerkily.

“Okay my love, I’ll go ring for you, okay? I’ll be right back.”

Nico grunted. 

Taking that as a positive sign, Will rose from the bed, pressing a soft kiss to his husband’s temple he left the room, grabbing his mobile from the desk. It had been created by Leo Valdez a few years back so they wouldn’t attract monsters. Being able to use technology was such a relief, especially for demigods who worked outside of enclosed demigod communities. It had always been difficult to explain to employers why they didn’t have a phone.

Once he reached the kitchen, Will grabbed his phone, unlocking it and immediately scrolling through his contacts until he found the right one. The phone rang for twenty seconds before the person on the other end answered.

“Will?”

“Hi Cecil.”

“Hey buddy, what’s up?”

Will sighed.

Nico had been working with Cecil for seven years since the son of Hermes had first opened his restaurant in New Rome. The son of Hermes loved cooking, and Nico was also surprisingly good at it. They’d been working together for years, and were good friends. He was one of the few demigods who knew entirely what Nico had gone through, which was a huge relief when Nico was having a really bad day. If Nico had to ring in sick Cecil was always fine with it knowing Nico would never take advantage and call in sick for no reason. If Nico wasn’t feeling great, but could still work at his own insistence, Cecil would make sure he was in the back and could check up on him. Nico working with Cecil was a godsend. 

“Nico’s having a really bad day.”

Cecil hissed on the other end of the phone in sympathy.

“Is he nonverbal?”

“Mmm.”

Cecil hummed. Although it was far from the first time Nico had gone nonverbal, it usually indicated a really bad day, and no one really liked to leave Nico alone when he was having a super bad day. They didn’t want him to panic and think he was alone again.

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll excuse him for today. Are you working tonight?”

“I am.” Will reluctantly admitted.

“Overnight?”

“Yeah.”

“Drive Nico over here, he can stay in my spare room, and I can check in on him when I have breaks. Plus Lou isn’t working tonight, so she’ll be home.”

Will sighed slightly in relief.

“Are you sure? If it’s Lou Ellen’s day off...”

“She won’t mind, she loves Nico, we both do. You know we’d do anything for either of you.”

“Do you mind checking just in case?”

“Of course, give me a second.”

From slightly afar he heard Cecil call out to Lou Ellen and barely a second later Lou Ellen’s voice responded.

“She said it’s fine. She doesn’t mind at all.”

“You two are lifesavers Cecil, I was going to call Austin or Kayla to watch him, but I’m not even sure if they’re free.”

“Don’t worry about it Will, you know we love you and Nico.”

“Yeah, we love you too.”

There was silence from the other side for a second.

“Do you know if anything triggered it? He hasn’t had a super bad day in a couple of months, this’ll be his first day off since November, so what’s that… three months? Four?”

“Yeah, he’s been doing pretty well recently, but I don’t know…,” Will trailed off. “Also, I couldn’t see anything obviously that triggered him.”

“All right, call me when you’re on your way?”

“Will do, thanks again Cecil.”

“No problem.”

The two exchanged goodbyes and hung up the phone, hurrying back to his husband in the bedroom. Nico was in the same position he had been when Will had left. The son of Apollo immediately moved back to his husband’s side, checking the time as he did so. 3pm. He had work in two hours.

“Hey Neeks, are you feeling any better?”

The man grunted.

“All right sweetheart. I have work tonight, do you remember?”

Nico let out a sob.

“No, oh Neeks, it’s okay. It’s okay.” He murmured, wrapping his arms around his husband.

Nico shifted slightly, his body unfurling and collapsing into Will’s arms, and sobbing into the taller man’s shoulder. Will gently pressed a kiss to the top of Nico’s head and wrapped his arms tightly around him, rocking them both slightly.

“It’s okay sweetheart, it’s okay. You’re going to stay at Cecil’s in his apartment above the restaurant, okay?”

The son of Hades didn’t say anything, and Will hadn’t expected him to, but his sobs decreased and relief settled through the son of Apollo. If Nico worked himself up too much it wouldn’t end well.

“It’ll be okay sweetheart, Lou Ellen will be there too, and as soon as I finish work I’ll come and pick you up, I promise.”

Nico turned to look at him with teary eyes, and Will quickly recognised the unasked question with them.

“I promise, I love you darlin’, I love you so much.”

Nico tapped Will’s side twice. Love. You.

Will breathed out in happiness at the action. The fog on Nico’s mind seemed to be clearing somewhat which was a huge relief. If Nico could understand things easier without needing a few minutes to process, it would be easier to help him.

“Sweetheart, we’re going to need to get up soon so I get you to Lou and Cecil’s on time. Do you want to get changed?”

Nico shook his head frantically, fiddling with the collar of the shirt he was wearing. Will smiled softly at him. Gods did he love his husband.

“That’s okay sweetheart, that’s okay. You need to put some trousers on, but other than that you’re fine.”

Will moved quickly to the wardrobe and pulled out some sweatpants and some pyjama bottoms from the cupboard. Nico stared at them for a second before he lethargically rose from the bed, and gently pulled the pyjama bottoms into his hands.

“Oh sweetheart, you’re doing so well. So well, I’m so proud of you.”

Nico ducked his head but didn’t respond, instead just pulling the trousers on and collapsing onto the bed once more. Will pressed a soft kiss to his cheek.

“Okay sweetheart. I’m going to get something to eat and then shower and get ready for work. Do you want to come, or are you okay here?”

Nico held up his index finger before lowering it, and then raising it once again.

“Mmm, okay then sweetheart. Eat first, okay? Do you want to come in here while I shower or stay in the kitchen?”

Nico raised two fingers.

“Okay sunshine.”

Will led them into the kitchen and Nico flopped heavily into one of the chairs at the table. Will smiled at him softly before putting toast in the toaster and pouring himself some cereal. It didn’t take long for the toast and once it was done he placed another slice in. One that had popped too, he buttered it and handed it to Nico on a side plate.

“Do you think you can try and eat this for me darlin’?”

Nico scraped the side of the bread with his nail before he shrugged.

“All right sweetheart.”

Will joined him at the table and quickly scarfed down his cereal and toast before he stood dumping the plates in the sink. He knew he’d regret it later when either he or Nico had the dishes to do, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. It was a problem for later.

“I’m going to shower, I’ll be back soon, okay sweetheart?”

Nico hummed.

“Good boy.” Will murmured, pressing a kiss to his husband’s temple before he hurried off to shower and get ready.

When the son of Apollo returned, he beamed as he realised Nico had eaten a quarter of his toast, which was better than he managed most times he had a super bad day. As he looked closer he realised his husband had fallen asleep, his head buried in his arms. He was softly snoring in sleep.

Will smiled again.

“Neeks, honey, time to wake up.”

After a few moments Nico’s eyes fluttered open and a tiny smile graced his face at the sight of Will.

“Hi baby, how’re you doing?”

Nico hummed.

“All right. I’ve packed some stuff for you for Lou and Cecil’s, okay?”

Nico nodded.

“Good. How’s your voice feeling?”

Nico paused for a second, opening his mouth and letting out a soft, slightly strained murmur. It was unintelligible.

“It’s okay baby, it’s okay. I’m sure it’ll come back soon.”

Nico nodded.

“All right then baby, let’s go.”

Nico shoved on his slippers and grabbed his jacket, letting himself be ushered into their car, where he slumped against the door. While he did this, Will texted Cecil to let them know they were on their way.

The drive only took five minutes, and before he knew it Will was opening the door for Nico so the son of Hades could make his way up to the door down the side of the restaurant. As soon as Will closed their car door, the door to Lou and Cecil’s apartment popped open.

“Hey you two!”

“Hi Cecil.” Will responded, quickly hugging his friend.

“Want to head up? Lou’s on the couch.”

“Sure.”

The three made their way upstairs, and as soon as they emerged in the living room of the Blackstone-Markowitz apartment, Lou Ellen’s eyes snapped in their direction, and her face softed from how it rested.

“My two favourite boys!” She cried, launching herself off the couch, hugging with Will with force and hugging Nico slightly softer.

“Hey, I thought I was your favourite boy!” Cecil complained.

“Not in a million years, you just happen to be my husband.”

Cecil scowled playfully.

The three talked for a while as Nico listened in, curled up at Will’s side, before Will sighed heavily.

“I’ve got to unfortunately.”

“Awww.” Cecil whined.

“Don’t worry, I’ll see you on Saturday anyway, plus I’ll be here to pick Nico up in the morning.”

“Fine.” He complained, winking slightly at his friend while Lou Ellen rolled her eyes.

Will ignored the two to turn to his husband and winced as he saw the tears once again streaming down Nico’s cheeks.

“Oh baby, I’m sorry.”

Nico shook his head, burying his face in Will’s coat.

“I’m sorry baby, I really am, but I have to go. But Lou and Cecil will look after you. You can get some rest huh, and then I’ll see you in the morning.”

Nico sobbed.

“I know baby, I know. I’m back to day shifts next week as Megan’s back from her holiday, so you’ll get to see me all the time then. I promise.”

Nico whined, but eventually pulled away, wiping away his tears as if angry at himself for being so upset.

“It’s okay baby, I promise. I’ll be back in the morning okay.”

Nico relucntantly nodded.

“Get some rest sweetheart, you’re exhausted.”

“We’ll make sure he does.” Lou commented.

Will flashed her a grareul smile.

“Love you Neeks, love you my baby.”

“Love...you…” Nico croaked.

Will sniffed loudly as tears sprung to his eyes.

“You’re doing so good baby, so well. I love you so much.”

“Love you.” Nico repeated.

Will leant down and pressed a kiss to his husband’s lips.

“See you in the morning sweetheart.” He murmured into Nico’s hair as he pulled his husband into a tight hug.

As he pulled away and saw the distressed look on Nico’s face he felt as if his heart was breaking, but he knew he didn’t have a choice. He pressed one more kiss to Nico’s temple before he made his way back down the stairs. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Lou Ellen wrap an around Nico and guide him towards the couch.

He hoped beyond anything Nico would be okay.

PJOHOOTOA.

As Will finished his shift he sighed tiredly as he got into his car, driving quickly to McDonalds to grab some food for him and Nico. He knew it was one food Nico was always willing to eat, even if Will didn’t agree with it at all.

On bad days though, getting Nico to eat was a challenge, so if he had to let the slightly younger boy eat the garbage he’d do it a million times over. Plus, he was way too tired to cook anything, and there wasn’t that much open at five am. So McDonald’s would have to do.

It took him a while, but by the time Will arrived at the Blackstone-Markowitz household, he was exhausted. He knocked gently on the door hoping that someone inside would hear it, and after a few moments he heard the tell tale sound of footsteps hurrying down the stairs, before the door was opened, and Will was met with the much more relaxed face of his husband.

“Nico!”

“Will!”

Will wrapped his arms tightly around his husband and he felt the shorter man relax against him. For a few moments they stood there, wrapped in each other's arms, peace falling over them as circadas chirped lightly in the background. It was still about half an hour until sunrise, but the bugs were waking early.

“How are you feeling sweetheart?” Will asked before with permission lightly dropping a kiss to his husband’s lips.

“Better, I’m sorry that I-”

“Hey, no, none of that. You and I both know you can’t help it, I’m just glad you’re feeling better today, hmm?”

“Yeah. Yeah. Thanks Will.”

“Any time sweetheart, any time.”

Nico smiled up at him and Will relaxed entirely. He loved his husband more than anything in the entire world, and he knew without a doubt his husband felt the same.

“Are Lou and Cecil awake?”

“No, I don’t think so, and I didn’t want to wake them, they’ve not been asleep that long.”

“Probably a good idea. I’ll send them a text and let them know I picked you up, hmm?”

“Sure, I’ll leave the latch on so it’ll lock behind me.”

“Good, good. Got everything you need?”

“Yeah.”

“All right then, come on.”

Will shuffled towards his car, fatigue setting in from his long shift. As Nico slid into the passenger side he beamed as he saw the food in the backseat.

“McDonalds?”

“Yeah. We’ll eat and then get some more sleep.”

“Thanks Will.”

Will just smiled sleepily at his husband before he started the car, and the two drove off into the early morning, peace settling over them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Review and kudos if you liked :)
> 
> Prompts are still closed for now, but if you comment them I should get around to doing some when I get chance, but at the moment I need to focus on essays for this term so I'll be writing whatever I come up with for now :)


	23. Angel's Breath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOT RELATED TO THE REST OF THESE ONESHOTS. I think there's another that isn't related too, but can't remember which it was.
> 
> I had this in mind for a couple of weeks, and I couldn't get it out of my head, and I didn't want to post it as a separate oneshot, so yeah.
> 
> I'll try and make the next oneshot I upload happy I think... we'll see though :D
> 
> CHARACTER DEATH

*Not related to the rest of the stories in this oneshot series, I just didn’t want to post it separately.

Percy collapsed down into his seat with a sigh after he informed the rest of the crew on the Argo II of his dream about Nico di Angelo. Since he’d first met the boy, Nico had changed drastically many times, and although his moods sometimes gave Percy whiplash, he knew the guy was on their side though, he couldn’t doubt that, even if he hadn’t told Percy who he was when he’d first met him again at Camp Jupiter.

As the rest of the crew began to discuss whether they should save Nico, Percy didn’t intervene. He was sure the rest of the demigods were good people, surely they’d see that they couldn’t exactly leave a thirteen year old boy? Fourteen year old? Either way, Percy knew they wouldn’t let him suffocate to death.

For a few moments Percy’s brain fell into a tangent. How old was Nico exactly? If he had to guess he’d say thirteen, fourteen at absolute most, but he wasn’t sure. That quickly devolved into the thought, did Nico know how old he was?

“Percy?”

Percy hummed lightly.

“Percy!” The voice called again.

After a moment the son of Poseidon startled from his thoughts. The rest of the crew were staring at him.

“Sorry, what?”

“Hazel thinks Nico’s surviving off pomegranate seeds from the underworld, what do you think?”

He cast his mind back to his dream and thought for a moment before he remembered a collection of what he now assumed to be seeds at the son of Hades’ feet.

“Yeah, yeah, Hazel’s right. There were some seeds at his feet, I didn’t recognise them before though.”

“How many?” Hazel inquired, her voice tight.

Percy blinked.

“What?”

“Percy, please.” She pleaded.

“I don’t understand.”

“Nico can survive on one seed a day, and that’s at a push. We need to know exactly how many seeds were there.”

He tried to think back, tried to recall exactly how many seeds there were, but his mind was hazy. Even in dreams the lack of oxygen in the jar had affected him, and for the life of him he couldn’t remember how many there were.

“I-I, oh gods Hazel, I’m sorry, I can’t remember.”

The girl let out a broken sob. 

“Hazel, it’ll be okay, I’m sure. Nico’s strong. I’m sure we’ll find him in time.” Annabeth reassured the young girl.

For a moment Percy startled as he realised just how young Hazel was. She was only thirteen. The youngest demigod on the Argo II by far. Gods, why did children of Pluto and Hades go through so much before they should. Both children of the underworld had dealt with monsters galore before turning thirteen. Couldn’t they just get a break?

“At least we know what the line from the prophecy meant. Twin’s snuff out the angel’s breath, who holds the key to endless death. It’s Nico… his surname di Angelo, it’s Italian for angel, or of the angels, but… yeah.” Piper informed them.

“Oh gods. Oh gods.” Hazel muttered, the silverware on the table moving closer to her as anxiety poured off her.

Frank wrapped an arm around his girlfriend lightly, and she leant into it slightly.

Percy tuned out again as Leo and Jason began talking, he knew Annabeth would tell him later if something major happened. She always did. She always understood when he tuned out, she understood having ADHD, being unable to calm your thoughts sometimes, unable to focus. Hopefully she was paying enough attention. If not, Frank didn’t have ADHD, and he’d tell him later.

The son of Poseidon was startled from his thoughts as Hazel stormed off, and Annabeth glared at Leo and Jason. Percy looked at his girlfriend in confusion, and she shook her head slightly. She’d tell him later.

PJOHOOTOA.

Arriving in Rome had been a hassle, but eventually the group split three ways.

Percy couldn’t shake the worry as Annabeth went alone, but he knew he didn’t have a choice. To fight Otis and Ephialtes, Piper and Jason would need him, plus the prophecy had determined Annabeth would fight this fight alone. After everything he’d been through he knew prophecy’s were impossible to beat. They’d tried time and time again to avoid them, but they always unfurled as they said they would.

By the time they reached the giants, Percy was exhausted. His heart was racing, and more than anything he wanted to collapse in a ball and sleep for a year, but still he fought on.

“Where’s Nico?!” Percy shouted as he swept to a side, to avoid Otis.

The giant roared with laughter, but said nothing as the fight continued. Time seemed to pass in short bursts, and Percy could barely focus, he was running on pure adrenaline and muscle memory. His brain wasn’t in it.

Finally Bacchus arrived, and the giants were eventually defeated after he watched them for a while from a seat in the Colloseum. As soon as the fighting was finished, the god disappeared and Percy turned to look at Jason and Piper who were slightly beaten up from the fight, but otherwise uninjured.

“Do you think Hazel, Leo and Frank had better luck finding Nico?” Piper asked softly.

“I hope so, I can’t imagine how hurt Hazel would be if… well if we can’t find him.” Jason said slowly.

Percy cast his eyes around the arena, scowling as he saw no sign of the son of Hades. Where on earth was he?

“We should head back to the Argo II.” Jason said after a few moments of awkward silence.

“Right… er…” Percy began before he was cut off by heavy winds from above.

He looked up in surprise and instant relief as he saw the Argo II descending down upon them, Frank, Hazel and Coach Hedge waving from the deck. Percy assumed Leo was making sure Festus was okay on autopilot, and he was proven right when a moment later Leo joined them on deck as a ladder descended down to them.

“How did you guys escape?” Jason called up to them.

Percy barely heard the reply as he thought about the fact Nico was still missing, and someone was going to have to tell Hazel. However, his worry for Annabeth overwhelmed that even more, and the son of Poseidon felt physically and emotionally exhausted. He couldn’t wait until he was finally allowed to collapse in his bed, whenever that would be.

“Percy, did… did you find Nico?” Hazel asked softly as he landed with a soft thud on the deck.

“I’m sorry.” He murmured softly.

Tears immediately sprung to the young girl’s eyes, and he immediately offered her a hand which she clung to like a lifeline, her head bowed as tears fell from her eyes, landing softly on the deck as she silently wept.

“I’m sure he’s okay Hazel.” He tried to reassure her, but as time went on he was becoming less and less sure of it.

Otis and Ephialtes had been the last person to see the son of Hades, and they’d laughed when they asked about him. That could never entail anything good.

As the ship rose fully in the air again, Hazel pulled away, moving to lean against the mast, whispering quietly to Frank. Percy wanted to join them, but he was sure Frank would be better at comforting Hazel than he could, so instead he collapsed onto a bench, taking a few moments to rest before they rescued Annabeth. He could feel his body screaming at him, he needed as much rest as he could get. He’d definitely pushed himself a bit too far.

It was about twenty minutes later when the ship began descending once more that Percy leapt to his feet, ready to fight once more.

PJOHOOTOA.

Percy and Annabeth had fallen into Tartarus.

The Nico kid was nowhere to be found.

The crew of the Argo II was crumbling. They knew they had to find the doors of death, but it would be hard, they just had to hope.

As Frank, Jason, Piper and Hazel headed to their rooms for the night and Leo took first watch on deck, Hedge slipped into his own room, Piper’s dagger in hand. He’d heckled with her to be allowed to borrow it to catch up on the news, and she’d reluctantly agreed as long as he took care of it. He’d readily agreed.

The coach watched as the image flickered for a while, flipping through channels that somehow the sword picked up, before he paused as an image caught his eye on one of the channels. A bronze jar.

The image flickered slightly before a woman appeared on the screen, microphone clasped in hand standing on an undetermined street.

“Thank you Atticus,” she said with a thick greek accent, “the jar was found here at Ponte Sant’Angelo early this morning. A local who wished to remain anonymous found the jar, and opened it out of curiosity. To his horror, inside he found the dead body of a boy somewhere between eleven to fourteen years old. The boy seemed to have been badly beaten and extremely malnourished. The concerned citizen then immediately called the police, who arrived on the scene minutes later. As of yet, the police have not revealed any suspects, but it is obvious that foul play was involved.”

The screen shifted back to a suit clad man in a studio.

“Thank you Alex. I believe…Yes, we have an artist’s rendition of the boy here.”

An image flashed on the screen, and Coach Hedge sighed. He’d only ever seen Nico di Angelo in passing, but there was no doubt that it was him. A sigh escaped his lips. Ponte Sant’Angelo. He wondered briefly if that had been a purposeful thing, just a highlight of the giants’ sick humour. He knew they’d already passed it, they weren’t going to be able to go back.

He sighed again, he’d have to tell Hazel, but it could wait till morning.

As morning dawned, Hedge groaned as he climbed out of bed. He’d barely managed to sleep, worry about Mellie and their baby now mixed with anxiety as he realised he’d have to tell Hazel what had happened to her brother.

As he reached the deck, he was met by arguing demigods.

“Oi, cupcakes, shut up!” He cried grumpily as he flopped down in a seat, shoving Piper’s knife back towards her.

She nodded her thanks.

“Sorry Hedge.” Hazel apologised, while Frank nodded from her side.

“Right, everyone sit and eat. We… we can talk after.” Hedge said slowly.

The demigods didn’t seem particularly happy about it, but no one argued against the bat wielding satyr, and for that he was thankful.

As he nervously chewed on some of the cutlery, he briefly wondered how exactly to word what he had to say. He’d told people that their loved ones hadn’t survived before in the years he’d been a protector, but he’d never done it to someone he knew properly. He’d come to care for the kids on the Argo II, so this would be difficult.

As breakfast finally drifted to a close, the kids all turned to look at the satyr expectantly.

He gulped down a fork before he sighed lightly.

“Unfortunately I have some bad news.”

“What?” Jason immediately interrupted.

Hedge glared at the boy, and he immediately held his hands up in slight apology.

“Last night while catching up on the news, I’m afraid I found out…” He broke off for a moment. “I’m afraid di Angelo’s body was discovered by a mortal yesterday morning in a jar in Rome.”

“What?” Hazel whispered.

“I’m sorry.” He muttered.

A painful cry seemed to rip itself from the girl, before she immediately stood, and fled below deck. Barely a second later Frank followed her. 

Silence permeated around the table.

“Poor Hazel.” Piper whispered.

The boys said nothing.

“Yes, well… I best go check on them. You kids keep an eye out, okay cupcakes?”

“Yes Hedge.”

“Good.”

With that, the satyr followed the daughter of Pluto and the son of Mars below deck.

PJOHOOTOA.

When Bob appeared in the depths of Tartarus to help them, Percy could have sobbed with relief. Sure, they were still in exponential danger, but the help of a titan would never go amiss. It was a huge help, he seemed to know Tartarus well, including finding them food they could safely eat at a shrine for Hermes.

Finally, it came out.

“Did he visit you, after he stole your memory?” The arai growled at the titan.

“No,” Bob murmured. His lower lip quivered. “The other one did.”

Percy’s thoughts were sluggish. Who on earth was the other one?

“Nico.” Bob scowled at him, his eyes full of hurt. “Nico visited. Told me about Percy. Said Percy was good. Said he was a friend. That is why Bob helped.”

The fight continued, and it wasn’t until they were at Damasen’s home and Percy was cured, and they were heading away that Percy finally got the chance to ask.

“Bob, do… Do you know where Nico is? Do you know what happened to him?” He asked, his voice soft as if he feared the answer, which he did.

Bob sighed.

“Nico was a good friend.”

“Was?” Annabeth whispered.

“Nico was trapped… and then he died. He’s in the Underworld now, with Hades… but he can go to Elsyium too.” The titan muttered.

“Oh.” Annabeth whispered.

Something seemed to trick inside Percy, and it took him a moment to realise it was guilt.

“How long ago Bob?”

“A little while, it’s hard to tell… time is different here and in the Underworld. A few days before Bob jumped down here… a few days before you fell here.”

“Oh.” Percy whispered, pain blossoming in his chest.

Nico had died because the crew of the Argo II hadn’t arrived in time. Perhaps if he’d noticed how many pomegranate seeds laid at the boy’s feet things would have been different. If only they had been quicker.

“How did he die?” Annabeth asked quietly, and as Percy looked at his girlfriend he noticed soft tears trickle down her face.

He held her hand tighter.

“Suffocated. But he was also very sick… he came here too.”

“What? Wait what? Nico was in Tartarus?” Annabeth asked.

“Yes. Down here for a month? Six weeks? Something like that, hard to tell. He made it to the doors but then was captured by Otis and Ephialtes. Nico was already unwell… then he ended up in the jar. Even if he hadn’t suffocated and the seeds hadn’t run out, he’d have only had a few days before he died from other things if he didn’t get help. He needed rest and drink and food.”

“If the Argo II had gotten to him in time we could have helped him.” Annabeth whispered in horror.

“Yes.” Bob said plainly.

The conversation died at the blunt truthfulness behind Bob’s words. The two demigods shared a horrified look. If only they’d have been quicker, then perhaps Nico would have survived, as long as he got help that they could have easily offered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Review and kudos if you liked :)

**Author's Note:**

> Please review and leave kudos if you liked it.
> 
> ALSO send me prompts if you want: 
> 
> comment them or send them to frogfordays.tumblr.com


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